Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived an enchanted life. She had a beautiful mother whose smile lit up the family home all day long. Her father was a handsome man who read stories and poems to her and told her that she was capable of doing anything that she wanted to do. Sadly like so many fairy tales real life interceded and took her father away, leaving her family struggling to stay adrift but hers was a hero’s journey filled with brave and caring souls who seemed to arrive to save her and her family on cue. Along the way she learned how to be an optimistic warrior much like her mother had to become.

The little girl knew what she needed to do because her father had already tutored her before he left this earth. She watched the courage of her mother who never seemed to lose her bright outlook on life no matter how dire situations became. And so the little girl grew into a woman and met a handsome prince who was kind and loving so much like her father. She married him and the two of them began a beautiful life together but as all stories go even with true love times can become difficult and so it was with them. Luckily the young woman knew what to do, how to navigate the difficult times. She had watched and learned from her mother and was able to navigate through the roughest of seas, including a time when her charming prince became so ill that is seemed that he might die young just as her father had done. 

Good fortune was on her side. She cared for her two small children while doctors performed miracles on the prince. Soon he was well even as he had grown thin and pale during his illness. The family carried on surrounded by loving friends who encouraged them to move forward into the future. And so it was that time seemed to go by so quickly as the young couple grew into their middle ages with two beautiful daughters who had also learned the lessons of the challenges and delights of life. 

The prince was a modern man who encouraged the woman to seek more knowledge and to use her skills to be successful both inside and outside of the home. As she soared he never once felt a need to pull her back into the confines of an imagined role or to suggest that she was somehow breaking the rules of a good marriage. He was proud of her accomplishments and so too was his mother who had often longed to expand the dimensions of her own life. And so the woman whose father had told her to reach for the sky did just as he had instructed her and life was so good. 

The woman’s story has been a saga just as is true for anyone who has ever lived. She has encountered heroes and villains and found herself in battles for life and truth and all that make life wonderful. Time and again good has conquered over evil just as the fairytales foretold that it would be. She had learned that happy outcomes did not come from magic but from the hard work of millions of people of goodwill. She saw that the stories that her father told her were written in the long ago to show children how to have good faith in the kindness of the vast majority of humans. Those stories were parables about how to push forward and be resilient even in a world that feels ugly and unfair. 

The woman had learned that we do indeed have fairy godmothers and godfathers, people who come into our lives at the very moment when all seems lost. They are the kind souls who nurse and nurture us, shield us from harm, encourage us to keep moving forward. She saw that humans have pushed forward by being forced backward from the beginning of time. She was no different from any of the characters who had provided images that showed her how to overcome the monsters who seem to invade every person’s life. 

The woman had learned patience and unrelenting kindness from her mother. She understood that it was not silly to be happy even when there did not seem to be any reason to be so. Her mother had shown her that the sun always shows up again, the hard times that challenge us only help us to grow in strength and adaptability. So the woman found ways to keep calm and carry on even when it felt foolish to do so. 

Now the woman and her prince are old. Their daughters are middle aged. Their grandchildren are creating their own stories. The woman hopes that they have learned the secrets to a good life just as she had from her mother and father. Times are tough in the moment. Life seems to be littered with problems. Some days are more difficult than others but the sun keeps rising even when it rains. Hard work and goodness have never gone out of style in the long reach of history. The stories have new characters but the themes rarely change. Good will triumph over evil even in the worst of situations. Patience and unrelenting goodness are never out of fashion even when it seems to be so.

The kings are in their counting houses hoarding their gold. The people are struggling and dreaming of better days. The old woman and the aging prince have faith that this too will pass as long as we don’t all give up on honor and loyalty and love. The story continues.