Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a hopeless romantic.To say that I LOVE love would almost be an understatement. The ideas of being in love, holding hands because you want to, being proposed to on a Ferris wheel, talking about everything and nothing at all, yada, yada, yada. I love them all. I watch chick flicks and just get swept off my own two feet. I read LDS romance novels and fall in love over and over again. Let's be real, I had a wedding board on Pinterest. {hopefully there aren't too many boys that read my blog because too much too soon is a little intimidating... and straight up weird. boys-- keep reading. it proves i'm working on this. hahaha}
I read a book the other day (yes, the whole thing in one day) and just loved it... Until the end. They had just professed their love for one another and then it was over. I kept flipping the pages back and forth to see if I had accidentally skipped a chapter... or ten-- you know the after part where they keep living their lives, completely in love and that love keeps growing? Well, [un]fortunately for me, I hadn't skipped any pages. This was another "happily ever after" fairy tale that ended with just that-- a happily ever after.
I was sad. I was more than sad. I even complained to my brother saying,"How can I live vicariously through them if the book ends?!"
And then it hit me.
I needed to come back to reality. Back to where I am the girl in the story. Where life isn't always full of "happily ever afters." Authors who write fiction don't write about that stuff because,
fact: life is hard.
And hopeless romantics don't want to read about hard stuff. We want predictable happily ever afters. Because that's easier. We want the love to last-- problem free.
But I have learned something recently: easier does not mean better. Hard things are MUCH more fulfilling after we endure them with joyful hearts. And when we experience it ourselves.
I've actually been learning this lesson for quite some time now.
But here's the good news:
"You are truly royal spirit daughters of Almighty God. You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your 'once upon a time' is now... And the day will come when you turn the final pages of your own glorious story; there you will read and experience the fulfillment of those blessed and wonderful words: 'And they lived happily ever after.'" {President Uchtdorf, Your Happily Ever After}
Your life is what YOU make it. Others may have influence, but ultimately, YOU have the power to rewrite your story (amateur tip [I'm no pro at this]: if you seek God's will in this, you will be MUCH happier)
that's me on the right-- the girl in my story. those other two girls are my sisters. they are proof that life can be full of awesome and love. I've learned so much from them about living MY OWN life. About being the author of MY OWN story. but also about sharing parts of MY story that might help others. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has given me so many wonderful people in my life to help me along the way.
Live your dreams.
Enjoy your story because somebody's got to.
If you don't, who will?