The Fairy Tales of Romance

Today’s fairy tales, I believe, are the romance novels.  Someone meets someone so spectacular that the man is almost unreal…he’s handsome, strong, rich, generous, kind, gentle, romantic, understanding, brave and with a butt like a granite rock and don’t forget the abs.  He never sits on the couch, hogging the remote, watching football and drinking beer and farting.  This perfect man helps us with dinner and the dishes with a rose in his teeth, which he presents to us with a smile, wearing nothing else.  (Of course, the kids are at the in-laws).  Afterwards he doesn’t fall into the sleep of the dead, snore to wake the dead and steal the covers, leaving us freezing to death.  No, our fairy tale prince, cuddles us and tells us how amazing we are and how beautiful (he doesn’t see the gray hair or the wrinkles around the eyes).  We, of course, eat it up along with the chocolate covered strawberries he has prepared.  This Prince Charming sweeps us off our feet on his white charger or Jeep or BMW, depending on one’s own fairy tale preference.  The prince would also slay our dragons, like the repairman who speaks Greek and charges like the Romans when talking about our broken commode, if we would let him.  But we are are emancipated and thus, must fight our dragons alone.  Still, it’s nice to know that there is a dragon slayer nearby if you need one.  Anyway, in the romance novel all’s well that ends well.  Happy endings, like the Fairy tale where they ride off into the sunset to the castle surrounded by roses.  Here’s to Fairy Tales…….to pure escapism and great writing.  Where would we be if we didn’t believe in forever after and romance and love and a great ending?  The end.

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