A Simple Story

I love stories.

Let me tell you one.

Once upon a time there was a land of possibility. The skies were wide open, seemingly unending, devoid of obstacles and barriers. This land grabbed hold of some people and whispered truth into their ears.  Truth that spoke of simplicity and goodness. Not everyone who lived in this land took the time to listen, but to those who did, the land blessed them with gifts. Gifts such as gratitude, contentment, and an unshakable belief in grace and hope.

One of the lucky ones who listened and believed was a beautiful girl. She was a simple girl. She liked quiet things and spending time with her family. Her quietness and pleasant personality caused people to label her as sweet, and she was, but she was also fierce. She had to be.

People liked to tell her there were certain things that she couldn't or shouldn't do. Her quietness was hard for some people to understand and so instead of taking time to explore her special gifts they simply would walk by her.

But this girl was special. She didn't see things that other people saw. She didn't see the obstacles or barriers that others pointed out to her. She simply believed. In her mind, life was wide open and in her quiet fierceness she took on many things that others around her would never have attempted. Some may have said her belief made her blind but if that was true it also made her brave and strong.

This girl had one dream. She dreamed of being a princess.

Not everyone believed she could be a princess. Princesses didn't hang out with the kind of people she liked to hang out. Maybe 'people' isn't the right word, but they were her friends. They didn't always smell like flowers and sure, they didn't talk, but they were her friends nonetheless, and she liked spending time with them.

People wondered if princesses could hang out with pigs.

"Why not?", thought the girl, as she led her pink friend around the yard underneath a late afternoon sky.

One day the girl glimpsed a chance - a chance to be a princess. She would get to rule over a place where they celebrated all kinds of animals, even pigs. It was a small place that not everyone knew of, but those who did loved it. They would spend as much time as they could at that place, wind, rain, heat or cold. This place was perfect for her.

She was on it.

She filled out the forms. She went to the interviews. She put together a scrapbook of her favorite things. She answered the questions. She stood up in front of people and spoke with a microphone in her hand, something she wasn't fond of doing.

She did it. She wanted to be a princess.

She believed. She didn't see the obstacles. She fought in her quiet yet fierce way. It was difficult and yet simple. Just believe. Just do.

She did.

A princess she became.

A princess she will always be.

The end.