Still Exists

As a little girl, I always loved the fairytales and the stories of everlasting love. I loved the idea of one day finding my own Prince Charming or, the one as they're called as you get older and living my own happily ever after. I used to think that was possible, but now that I've witnessed all I have of love in the real world, I doubt it a little. There are people in other countries denied the chance at love and instead told they'll be spending the rest of their life with someone they barely know. Others have opened their heart so many times only to have it shatter into a thousand pieces left for them to mend. While I still like the idea of love, with all that I've seen, I have become rather wary of it. 

"Rachael," my mother smiled at me. "If you want love, you have to be willing to open your heart up to people." 

"But... there's all that you've been through," I said and Mum leaned forward, lightly brushing her fingertips against my arm. "That's me Rach," she said. "I've had a bit of rough luck, sure. But you can't let that stop you." 

"It killed me to watch you go through all that pain," I said and Mum's smile softens. "I can't imagine what it would have been like for you." 

At the anniversary party for my grandparents a few months later, I was the only one of their grandchildren to speak. 

"50 years is a long, long time," I started, trying my hardest to find a spot on the far wall that I could stare down rather than keep looking around at all the people. "Especially in this day and age, and it seems to me a real acheivement that they have been together this long. I've seen a lot of hardships with love, both from personal experience and my observations of others, and all of that made me doubt that love could be everlasting as they say it is in the fairytales. But Nan and Pop, you are my proof that fairytales can still exist and that, though it seems rare these days, everlasting love is possible." Everyone clapped when I was finished and I could even see my Nan and my Mum wiping the tears from their faces. I believed every word of what I said. Though I still have my small doubts about love, they've restored my faith that it can still exist. 

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For my own grandparents, who recently celebrated their own 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations on such a big milestone!