The REAL Fairytale

The band begins to play.

"Shall we?" he says as he offers her his hand.

She gently places hers in his.

He leads her to the dance floor.

The budding of unspoken love is palpable as the song continues, and they dance on.

One can almost feel the hearts racing with the surprise of the discovery

as the room seems to swirl around them and then slowly fade away.

And there, in that moment,

That beautiful moment when he looks into her eyes and softly, so that only she can hear, he sings,

"And now you're beside me

and look how far we've come.....

So far.....

we are....

....so close."

As he pulls her close to his heart.

Image Credit

{SIGH}
Okay. I will admit it.
I am a hopeless romantic. Pretty much to the core.
And I make no apologies for that.
NOT. ONE.

I have watched Enchanted more times than I can count, much to my husband's chagrin at times, and yet there are scenes that have yet to NOT make me want to laugh or sing or dance or even cry. My emotions are provoked every time.

I sat today wondering why that is.
Why THIS movie?
With all the beautifully written love stories out there {many of which I also love and adore}, why does this fanciful tale inspire & delight my senses time and time again?

And then I realized.

She doesn't choose the prince.

She doesn't pick the "Happily Ever After," according to the story books, that is.

She had a taste of REAL life, with all of its frailties and woes, and she said YES to that.


YES to the imperfections.
YES to the daily grind of working at love.
YES to the knowledge that I would rather TRY HARD with you,
then REST EASY with anyone else.


Gizelle was not simply in love with the idea of love.
The fantasy that her mind told her was reality.


She changed.


She was transformed beyond imagination and beyond make-believe into a world that was far beyond what her dream could have conjured.

And is that not the essence and beauty of true love?

That moment when you realize that love is more than just a feeling, a crescendo in a song, a one-liner that changes everything.

True love is giving up one's culture for the sake of his love.
True love is showing grace when the object of his affection has none to give.
True love is believing the best even when despair seems imminent.
True love is wading through the hard, icky, stuff that threatens to drown you both.
True love is knowing....this IS not the end....that happily ever after is a choice -- a beautiful, gut-wrenching, powerful, knock-your-socks-off, toe-curling, rest-of-your-life choice.
True love is saying, "It's you-and-me, Baby!" until it becomes so real you cannot help but believe it because the love has become a part of you.

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse.

'It's a thing that happens to you.

When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with,

but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

Image Credit

Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.

'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.

But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

REAL is MY Fairytale.