Once Upon A Time

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you're young at heart
For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on it's way

I've been watching this new show called Once Upon A Time, about a bunch of childhood story characters transported to a modern-day world via a curse and a little boy who wants to break the curse and free the characters to live the life they were destined to live.  It's a pretty good show.  Good versus Evil.  Innocent versus Not So Innocent. 

When I was a kid, I loved fairy tales.  Rapunzel. Cinderella. Snow White. Sleeping Beauty. Then, later, it was Belle, Jasmine, Ariel.  They were smart, independent, kind, loving women who knew what they wanted and got what they wanted, without sacrificing themselves.  They had their convictions and stood by them.  I wanted to grow up and be a princess and find my prince and live happily ever after.  

Every summer, my family would visit this amusement park called Idelwild Park and there was a section of the park called Storybook Forest.  I would count down the days every summer until I could go to Storybook Forest.  Every childhood favorite could be found there.  I was always mesmerized by it.  Trying to pull Excalibur out of the rock.  Staring into the mirror mirror on the wall that had a hidden face.  The crooked man who lived in a crooked house.  The little old lady who lived in a shoe.

I could walk in and out of the pages of my favorite books and then chatter the entire car ride home about how I wanted to live there when I grew up.  I would lie in bed and imagine a world made up of my favorite characters... gingerbread houses, castles, bright colors, fun, fantasy....

I sometimes miss that innocence and hope.  That purity of thinking that everything will end up "happily ever after."

I've been kidded at times about having rose-colored glasses and for wishing and hoping for things that seem almost childish and immature.  I want a peaceful world with flowers and animals and butterflies.  I want to see rainbows and make wishes on stars and think that they might come true. I consider myself old-fashioned, a throwback.  I like romance and the potential that comes from fairy tales.  Real life fairy tales. 

I want to write my own story some day that starts out "Once Upon A Time"... (instead of "It was a dark and dreary night....").  I want the prince who saves me from myself and finds my innocent and hopeful outlook refreshing.  I want the carriage ride with beautiful graceful white horses.  I want the crystal blue lake filled with serene swans.  I want the castle on a hill, with fruit-bearing trees decorating the lush green lawns.  I don't want the wicked witch or the ugly stepsisters.  Although, to be fair, every good fairy tale has some sort of obstacle to overcome in order to reach the "and they lived happily ever after."

I could be a princess type.  Lord knows, I've encountered many wicked witch types and I've definitely met some obstacles head on.

It's my dream.  My fantasy.  My fairytale.

I'd like to think I'm not the only one.