
With all these adorable children dressed up as their favorite Disney characters for Halloween, it got me thinking about the appeal of "happily ever after." Who doesn't like a story that ends with the girl swept off her feet by the man of her dreams? I'm not a feminist, by any stretch of the definition of the term, but I have to admit that I'm worried about setting up my own daughter to believe that happily ever after is founded on getting married to a handsome prince.
In my book, happily ever after is the way a woman lives when she is financially secure in her own right.

Am I some kind of nut to suggest that you can live happily ever after just by finishing school and setting a budget? Yes and no. Life will have its ups and downs. Children will get sick. Loved ones will die. Prince Charming may argue with you endlessly about the cost of coloring your hair while he goes off to golf on the weekends. It is an ongoing process - living happily ever after. It requires constant management by YOU, of YOU. Sometimes the glass will definitely appear half-empty, but its up to you to look deep for the joyful experiences and relationships you have to turn that perception around.
I also have to remind myself that even grown-up movies are but fairy tales. The silver screen can make me feel disillusioned by my own life. The last movie I saw, "Nights in Rodanthe," had me drooling over Richard Gere and silently cursing my husband for not having a romantic bone in his body. Living happily ever after means being able to put things into perspective, I guess. Those characters on screen are truly make-believe, and we're only given a tiny glimpse into their fake lives. With mortgages to pay, carpools to run, and toilets to scrub, no wonder my spouse and I don't dash off to the beach for a carefree weekend of love-making. And if we did, we'd probably be arguing about finances most of the way. Who wants to watch such reality when they go to the movies?
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