I have a very romantic personality, so it was only natural for me to fall into all the Fairy Tale beliefs about marriage.

Having married at a young age, I soon realized Happily Ever After wasn’t as easy as it was made out to be in all of my books.

(Wouldn’t it be great if we said “I Do”, followed by the epilogue – “And They Lived Happily Ever After” and that was the end?)

Instead, soon reality set in and marriage was way harder than anyone let on! And no one was really talking about it. Everyone just seemed to get along fine and one day they were getting a divorce. At least that’s how it seemed to me.

I remember my son commenting on how hard college was his freshman year. “I wish someone would have told me, I would have applied myself differently in High School.” he lamented.

That’s exactly how I feel about marriage. And I feel a responsibility to warn and educate the upcoming generation.

That’s when it hit me; every classic Fairy Tale has an antogonist! We, as women, want to be rescued. We want to be fought for. So wouldn’t it only seem natural that sometimes we have to fight too?

Marriage is incredible, don’t get me wrong! I am celebrating my anniversary this week to my real life “Prince Charming”.

It just took me awhile to figure out that good things don’t come easy, and they are always worth fighting for.

Some of my early struggles weren’t even outside, they were within me. I was terrified of failing, of becoming a statistic. Or even worse, “What if he stopped loving me?” And there was no one in my corner coaching me, telling me those were normal fears, just get back in the ring and fight.

I am an encourager by nature and I want to encourage long, happy marriages. I want to encourage young woman that there is a Prince Charming out there for them too, but there are also dragons and wicked witches that we have to fight off from time to time.

Everyone dreams of being that little old couple sitting across the restaraunt smiling and holding hands. The couple that looks like they’ve probably been married 50 years. If we could read the tale of their life, it would most likely contain all the drama and action they overcame together to make this moment so beautiful.

Isn’t that really what we all want? A love that lasts. A love that overcame every obstacle because at times we were willing to momentarily put aside our feelings and fight.

Fairy Tales do come true every day. Prince Charmings will marry their Princesses, but living Happily Ever After is still up to them.

Maybe God will grant me the ability to be a Fairy Godmother, just so I can be flitting around when the clock strikes midnight.

Instead of running away in fear of the “What ifs” we just may find out the glass slipper fits after all

and we can all live Happily Ever After

IF we are willing to fight for it.

After all, isnt the love we truly want worth fighting for?

Love,

Pazazdance