A Memory and A Fulfillment

I was very young. My grandmother, brother, and I were driving in the old blue van with the personalized license plates to a destination of little importance when Grandma Lucy posed the question,

“What do you children want to be when you grow up?”

I knew this answer! I had been asked this particular question many times throughout my young life and had come to the perfect conclusion. I was going to be a princess! It was my call in life. I knew this was the perfect job for me because of my overwhelming desire to sing, wear beautiful dresses, and be very pretty. That’s what princesses do in the great kingdom of Disney isn’t it?


Very quickly, my dreams of castles and gowns were flattened as my brother explained,

“You can’t be a princess. You have to marry a prince in order to be a princess, and we don’t have princes here in America. We have presidents.”

As soon as my grandmother agreed with him, the deal was sealed. I would not be a princess. I was OK with that, and moved on to make other equally unrealistic goals...such as attending Hogwarts.

However, sometimes I think that maybe I did grow up to be a princess. Some days I feel like Cinderella, cleaning and working my life away. Some days I feel like Rapunzel, kept by wicked witch, "Snow College" from the family and friends that I love and miss. My favorite days are those when I feel like Sleeping Beauty, waking up to a beautiful life...

...Today I was a little of each, but a princess none-the-less!