Ordinary Princesses

I read this book a long time ago called The Ordinary Princess. It is a wonderful, wonderful story about a princess named Amy. Her real name is Amethyst Aurelia Blah, Blah, Lots-of-long-fancy-A-names, but at her birth, a very cantankerous fairy bestows upon her the Gift of being Ordinary. She DOES end up with a prince in the end. . .but it’s not so bad because the moral of the story is that being ordinary is a whole lot more fun than the alternative of having to wear uncomfortable clothes and be perfect all the time.

So. . .how did I begin there?

First of all, two days ago, my art friend, Stephanie, celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary, and, you know, 15 years is nothing to sneeze at in this day and age, although it is a mere drop in the bucket of what they HOPE to spend together. AND she even bought a wonderful (EXPENSIVE, SURPRISE) gift for her VERY HANDSOME fire-fighter (captain) husband and had even planned a wonderfully fun wifely way to give it to him, when he discovered a large withdrawal from their savings account and called her to find out what in the Sam hill was going on. Well, after some fancy dancing she finally had to cave and just said, “Go look in my top drawer,” where she had carefully hidden *part* of the gift that she was going to give him in that creative wifely way I mentioned earlier. So, you see, here is lovely princess Stephanie of the raven locks who marries the handsome (also artistic) fire fighter and plans a FAIRY TALE celebration of their 15th anniversary when the ordinary clock strikes 12 and in walks the reality of Mr. Prince checking the status of their savings account.

Then yesterday on the way to work, I heard some radio thing about how a magazine (I thought it was Vogue) had done a survey (Vogue? Survey? When did THEY start doing surveys????) and something like 36% of women polled said they would NOT marry their (current) spouse again if they had the choice, and that 22% weren’t sure WHAT they would do. . .and I sat at the light in our 13 1/2 yr. old pick-up truck that my husband ADORES. . .and well, I cannot adequately describe it, so here’s a picture. . .

. . .that Tony took to show off the fact that he had the WHITEWALLS of the tires pointed out the last time we bought new tires. . .AND he’s gotten compliments on them from the construction crew that is remodeling the school building where he works.

Digression . . .(I stated earlier that there were all sorts of resolutions I had made for the new year but I’ve decided to focus only on NOT procrastinating and MORE exercise) digression is NOT procrastination, so I don’t have to worry about doing away with it, right??? Back on track. . .

Princess. Ordinary. Marriage. Okay, I’m back.

I sat at the light and thought about how wonderfully blessed I am to be completely CERTAIN beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would make the same choice all over again. . .but it took me about 6 years to get to that point. That’s not a BAD thing. . .I never wanted anyone else. . .but you know, you wonder about this person or that person or what if I had gone to a different school or what if I had chosen a different path. . .and then one day you wake up and realize, ”Thank you God for watching out for me and giving me this wonderful person that I get to wake up with every day.” Last night there was the SAME survey being touted on some late night entertainment show–but it was by Ladies’ Home Journal or Women’s Day or something.

Not that Tony is flawless–puh-leez–but he’s mine. And he loves me. And he is strong and sturdy and patient and smart and . . .well, I could digress even more but I won’t (right now).

This all has a point. And that would be. . .whether you are one of the adamant 36% or unsure 22% or the other quite certain 42%, well let’s have some fun.

Tell me your best dating your spouse/meeting your spouses’ parents/engagement/wedding/honeymoon/newlywed story.

Come on. You KNOW you have one–or two–or twenty. Most of us are ordinary princesses after all–we live in the real world but get spoiled some too. Our wedding days were long awaited and much anticipated. . .as were our knights in shining armor. . .but I’m sure that somewhere along the way, some shots of reality filtered through.

So, give me one from each category if you have ‘em. It can be a wonderfully tender memory or a horrifying explosion of reality or just a fairy tale run amok. Put them in the comments or write one on your blog and invite us to visit. I don’t know how to do the linky-thing that Boomama does for her tour of homes, but if anyone does, e-mail me and let me know, and I can set up a link right here.

It’ll be fun. . .I promise. And I will give you one or two or twenty of my own after my prince and I enjoy our empty house. . .kiddos stayed with the inlaws last night. We went to Chile’s and used a gift card we had received, then watched “Little Miss Sunshine.” NOT a family flick, but very funny and poignant and worth your while. Now off to exercise!!!