But What About The Fairy Tale?

I remember being around 12 I guess when Cinderella was shown on TV for the first time. It was the one with Leslie Ann Warren playing the role of Cinderella and the man who plays Alan Quartermain(on General Hospital) as Prince Charming.  God, I remember it taking my breath away!  Her beautiful yellow gown and his white fur lined robe....wonderful. I was captivated by the simplicity of the fairy tale. That is the life that I wanted.  It seemed so easy. Cinderella had a pure heart.  She had lost her mother, her father had remarried a horrid women who favored her daughters over Cinderella and kept her basically as a servant doing all the house chores, all reason to be a bitter, angry, miserable person, well you know the story. Cinderella didn't spend her time complaining or wallowing around but rather chose the opportunities as they came to savor each moment with joy. It seems to me that her happiness came at the end of the story but I really believe she had it all along. It was within her.  She chose to keep it where she could have it as a constant reminder of her choice. It took me a very long time to learn that lesson. That happiness is within us. That no matter how horrible the world and it's circumstances may be we still have the choice to pluck the happiness from it.  I spent many years "blaming" unhappiness on people or things around me.  After 25 years I said,"no more", I must do what is necessary to keep my happiness perspective! In reality,some days are better than others. I may be no Cinderella, maybe a little more like Fiona(sShrek.) but I choose the Happily Ever After no matter how dismal the rest of my world may be!