Fairy Tales...

O has been on a princess kick for quite some time... I am not really sure how it started. Actually, I find it interesting that it just sort of happened... She loves to put on her princess dress, her fancy heels, her crown, and then dance around the house putting spells on people with her magic wand. But it isn't just about the getup, it is also about her favorite fairy tales... she adores Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast especially. The stories are part of the attraction.

And somehow, the stories from our childhoods seem to turn into a grownup fascination with fairy tales, too. What I wonder is this... Is there some gene in girls that just makes us want to dress up and be surrounded by all things magical? And why does the dress up from our childhood seem to turn into an endless search for our own fairy tale? Why do those fairy tales seem to require that the "happily ever after" includes true love? When does the fantasy from our childhood change from loving the glitter and magic to wanting to be rescued?

Examples of grownup fairy tales are everywhere... television and movies provide countless versions of an age-old formula. From Hope Floats to Dirty Dancing, time and again we see the princess get her prince and ride off into the sunset. But does that ever really happen? Really? Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Are some people just destined to find each other, or is it just lucky when it happens? Are we all just hopeless romantics? Or is it hopeful romantics? Does watching all those movies just make us believe in all of it more, or give us a place to escape and a few hours to believe it could be?

To say that my view on this is somewhat jaded might be an understatement... The truth is that I think I stopped believing in soul mates and fairy tales quite some time ago. But, like so many others, I find myself just as enamored with all those same stories... In Pretty Woman, when Vivian asks Kit "who does it work out for?" and her answer is "cinda-fuckin-rella", I smirk every time... and yet half an hour later Edward climbs up the fire escape and wisks her away... Is it the sarcasm that has me watching that movie over and over, or the idea that maybe, some times, things do have a way of working out even if you've made all the wrong choices up until now?