Surreal...
Wow. What a weekend.
Thursday night: Carita took me out for my birthday to a Mexican restaurant, and the owner paid for our food because he thought I was cute.
Resolved: I should go for more Mexicans???
Friday night: I was working at my restaurant, when one of the prep cooks in the back got splashed all over with barbecued rib sauce. She was hospitalized with first and second degree burns. Pray for her, she's got to be in a lot of pain.
Resolved: Annie will never be a prep cook, not with her luck. Also, God has been awesome to me getting me out of scrapes I don't deserve to be gotten out of.
Saturday morning: I drove to Plain City all by myself. (It's near Columbus.) I only had to turn around four times going down, and none going back. I did not experience any major instances of severe danger.
Resolved: I can drive after all.
Saturday afternoon: I had the pleasure and fright of meeting a guy who is freakishly like Micah.
Resolved: I'm not sure. It was just freakish.
Sunday night: Someone saw my new skirt and said I looked like a giant scrunchie.
Resolved: I laugh, but heartily disagree. It's an awesome skirt.
Thought of the Day:
"His hair didn't grow there, it like, died there. It is like a small animal died on his head. ---Marina Shenk on Donald Trump
Shouldn't we really say "snow person?"
First of all, I would like to thank all of my friends who made my birthday so awesome! I know some of them don't come here often, but at least cyberspace will know that I'm grateful!
I was listening to the radio this morning, and there was a short dramatization type thing at the beginning of some guy's program (which I didn't listen to), that kind of caught my attention.
Scenario: PTA meeting, public school, America
Woman gets up and announces the theme for this year's Winter Festival.
"Um, it's about this very sad snowman who tells the story about a little village full of snowpersons. Anyway, the snowpersons are all dying because there is no snow falling. The snow isn't falling anymore because of global warming. So then the children all come out to the town square and do the "Snow Chant Dance" so that the snow spirits will listen and send snow again..."
Sickening isn't it? Sorry, but every once in awhile (make that most of the time), I just get so tired of all of the political correctness in our society. In the words of Brad Stine, "If you can't handle it, then put a helmet on!"
"You see, I say Happy Holidays because I don't want to offend you just in case you don't believe in Christmas and only want to say Happy Holidays so that's why I just say Happy Holidays too. Blah blah blah."
Just say Merry Christmas all you want! If they don't want to, then they can say Happy Holidays! Sorry, but Jesus stepped on some toes too. I'm not saying you have to be blatantly obnoxious, but do we have to be politically correct?????? I don't plan to be.
On a happier note, I had an awesome weekend at work, people were extra nice (I guess because of it being Sweetest Day on Saturday) and everything was peachy. Only one blight marred the perfection. When it's that busy, you kind of forget to eat, and that gets pretty uncomfortable the next day when you realize that you forgot to eat supper the night before. It is possible!
Thought of the Day:
"Sydney or the bush!"---Farmer Ben, Tales of Moderation, Adventures in Odyssey
Fairy Tale: Part Four
This left only the third prince. So filled with passion to find sleep for his beloved was he that he nearly mounted his horse backwards.
Finding the infamous hilltop with only a little trouble (even princes must ask for directions sometimes), he scanned the grass for a likely place to lie down. While his head was turned in one direction, his sharp ears caught the sound of fairy wings beating in the other direction. Without missing a heartbeat, he reached up and trapped the fairy tenderly in his hand. (Tenderness is very appreciated and appropriate. Hurting a fairy would be quite unacceptable.)
The fairy opened his tiny mouth to offer the wish, but the prince rushed forward hurriedly. “Sleep for the princess. I need sleep for my beloved!”
The gleam in the fairy’s eye was visible from yards away. “So little?” He began. “What about…”
The prince cut him off with a wave of his other hand. “No, no, no. Nothing will do except for sleep for my love.”
The fairy sent a vision of unmeasured treasure to linger in front of the prince’s eyes, but he never even noticed it, so eager and desperate he was for the princess’s rest. The fairy shrugged his tiny shoulders and looked at the prince. He has rather an uncomfortable gaze, thought the fairy. “Here is what you must do. You must go to the princess and tell her how much you love her. Only if your love is of the highest and holiest kind will the princess…”
The prince had already gone. Forgetting completely about his horse, he raced back down the hill and into the princess’s garden. He came to a sudden stop when he saw the princess. She looked as though she were barely alive. Overcome with sorrow and anguish for her suffering, he rushed to her side. She was barely a shadow of her former self. Forgetting everything the fairy had said, he clasped her to himself and looked at her with his heart nearly breaking. “Oh that I could take your place, love, to take your suffering upon myself,” he cried fervently, “I love you more than life itself. If only I could do something for you, even giving up my own life.” The princess looked up at him, her dark eyes strangely soft in spite of her weariness and trial. There was no need to even look to his heart, for at that moment, a tear slipped down the prince’s face and fell like a crystal drop onto the princess’s eyelashes. It caught there and then dissolved into wisps of sleep. The prince felt relaxation fall onto the princess like a soft blanket. Her eyes closed, and a smile of peace formed on her lips. The princess was asleep! The prince held her closer, his eyes never leaving her face.
Hours passed, then an entire day, then another. Still the prince refused to leave his charge, or even look up from watching her face. By the third day, a small crowd of fairies had gathered around them. A small fairy, barely able to fly, fluttered up to them and patted the prince’s face. A small cloud of golden and rose mist enveloped the prince and his beloved. Nothing could disturb them now.
At the seventh day, the princess’s eyelids fluttered open, and she looked into the eyes of the man who loved her more than he cared even for himself. “I must give you something,” she whispered. “I give you my heart. You have already proven yourself worthy to take care of it.”
At this point, we are not exactly sure what happened. The misty cloud obscured too much. But it is worth mentioning that a kissing fairy suddenly arrived in great haste on an emerald zephyr, only to peek into the rose cloud and leave again in a great huff. It is to be assumed that the prince and princess had managed quite well without her.
As for living happily ever after, the answer to that lies in the eyes of every maiden who has given her heart to a worthy prince.
Fairy Tale: Part Three
Word came to the second prince that the princess still lay sleepless on her garden pallet. Taking his chance, he immediately went to that certain grassy hilltop. He lay down, and was about to “drop off” when he felt a fairy’s wings against his face. (It is quite incomprehensible that fairies should fly around treacherous places when they are so easily caught, but the glimmer of sleep beneath silken eyelashes is too great a temptation. They simply cannot resist it.) He gently caught the fairy’s wings between his fingers. (Extremely gently, so as not to harm him.) The fairy lowered his eyes in resignation and said, “All right. Your wish, and quick. I am meeting a half past eleven fairy at quarter till and as you know, they are quite rare.”
“The princess’s sleep!” pronounced the prince in ringing tones.
A glimmer appeared underneath the fairy’s eyelashes. (Really, they are terribly contrary.) “So unselfish!” he cried. “Is there nothing for yourself that you would like?
“No, there is nothing, I want simply for the princess to have her sleep.”
“Not even riches or fabulous treasure?”
The prince hesitated. Riches were so tempting. I’ll just hear what he has to offer and then I’ll know for future reference, he thought to himself.
Immediately, visions of glimmering silver and great sparkling diamonds danced before his eyes. The prince reached out a finger to touch the largest diamond and the entire vision dissolved into a wisp of fuchsia mist.
“Not so fast,” tinkled the fairy. “First, there is a test. You must return immediately to the princess and tell her how much you love her. If your love is perfectly true and pure, her sleep will come back to her and the riches…who knows.” The fairy dropped his eyelid in a wink that both gave hope and infuriated. He blew away on a gust of pearl gray wind.
The prince lost no time returning to the princess’s lonely bed. He took one of her frail hands in his and looked into her eyes. Really, her eyes are rather uncomfortable. The prince considered this for a second and then mentally shook himself. “I love you so much princess, more than…” The prince completely lost his train of thought. In fact, he could even hear the bell as it left the station. All he could think of were those great glimmering diamonds and all of that silver, shining like the night sky.
The night sky! That is certainly poetic enough! The prince took a deep breath and finished, “I love you more than even the moon and stars!”
The princess looked deeply into his eyes, straight to his heart, but could not even see it, so covered it was in silver and diamonds. A tear streaked its way down her cheek, and then another.
The prince hung his head in shame and left to serve his two years of slavery. Some things may be overlooked or forgiven, but never when a prince causes tears in any maiden. All true princes know this, and ours never even considered arguing it.
Fairy Tale: Part Two
The first prince went out onto that same hill where the princess had been before, and laid his head down on a pillow of sweetgrass. Closing his eyes and pretending to snore, he caught a glimpse of a fairy breezing in on a gust of rose-colored wind. He felt a tickle on his face, and quick as a wink, caught the fairy’s wings between his thumb and forefinger. (Very gently, mind you; it would never do to harm a fairy.) The fairy heaved a great sigh, from the top of his head to the tip of his toes, and said, “All right, you have caught me. What do you wish? And don’t give me any of this ‘three wishes’ nonsense. I am only a fairy, and not even a wishing fairy, so you only get one.”
The prince drew himself up proudly and said, “I wish for the princess’s sleep.”
A twinkle entered the fairy’s eye. “Nothing for yourself? You caught me for a lady’s sleep only?” (For some odd reason, known only to fairies, and perhaps a few privileged humans, fairies seem to derive a perverse pleasure out of getting the best of humans. Perhaps it is their great pride, or maybe simple mischief. Whatever the reason, they try to trick us and succeed as often as not.)
The prince answered, “Yes.” But not so confidently as he could have. Then he hesitated. “What else could I have?”
Immediately the fairy sent a vision of stacks of gold swirling before the prince’s eyes. The prince hesitated once more, looked longingly at the gold and then somewhat regretfully shook his head again. “Sleep for the princess,” he said.
The fairy tinkled out a laugh and said, “Return to princess, look at her, and tell her how much you love her. If your love is of the truest and grandest kind, she will receive back her sleep and perhaps the riches may be………..” the fairy’s voice trailed off as he disappeared on a silver breeze.
The prince wasted no time returning to where the princess lay in her garden, weary beyond description, yet still with her eyes wide open and sleepless. The prince ran up to her and took her hand. Remembering what the fairy had said, he looked at her (thinking for the first time that her gaze was quite uncomfortably piercing) and said, “My princess, I love you more than……….” Here the prince faltered, for all he could think of or see at that moment were those sacks of gold, shining like the sun. The sun! The prince finished confidently, “I love you more than the sun.”
The princess looked into his eyes, and saw the gold ringing around his heart. She looked away and one tear dropped to the ground. And for the tear, the prince was forced to serve as a slave for a year.
Fairy Tale: Part One
The Tale of How a Princess Lost Her Sleep and How a Prince Found It
The princess meandered dreamily over a wind-soaked, grassy hill. Lifting her arms as if she could fly, she spun around several times before collapsing into the tall grass. There must be an interjection here, lest a certain disillusionment continue any longer. In all of the legends, the princess is always gloriously beautiful, with hair like the sun, or a raven’s wing, or in the manner of some such romantic notion. It must be confessed now, that our princess was not one of these. Her hair was a commonplace brown, her skin was much too pale, her eyes much too dark, and the whole effect of her gaze was more soul-searching than awe-inspiring. To be honest, not many people could confidently look her straight in the eye. She seemed to see too much, and to the would-be suitors, the feeling was simply too uncomfortable. One by one, they drifted off in search of another princess, perhaps one that conformed more to the story-book ideal. Still, three seemed not to be cowed, but whether they simply did not notice, or if they could look solemnly, understandingly back, that we shall find out later.
But we have already been too long away from our princess. Lying in the grass with the sun soaking into her skin, her eyelids soon grew heavy with sleep. A periwinkle fairy wind began to blow softly, (for everyone knows that all fairy winds are colored) and soon, a little fairy fluttered up to the princess, his wings beating ever so lightly against the princess’s cheek. (Here is where we must clear up another misconception. Many people think there are only lady fairies, but no, there are men fairies, children fairies, working fairies, sleeping fairies, teaching fairies, kissing fairies, dancing fairies, mischievous fairies, even half-past eleven fairies. The last kind are very rare, however. The air is full of them, especially near any growing thing. They can see us, but we who can see them are very few and far between.) Anyway, this little fairy caught sight of the little wisps of sleep peeking out from underneath the princess’s eyelashes. Alighting on her face, he carefully gathered every wisp and tucked it into a gossamer bag on his back. Then his tiny wings were caught by a crimson wind, and he was gone.
The princess awoke with a start. She reached up to rub the leftover sleep out of her eyes, and realized to her horror that every last wisp was gone. She looked around wildly, supposing that it could have fallen off her face into the grass, but nary a trace of it did she find. After searching in vain for frantic minutes, she closed her eyes again, hoping it would magically reappear. It was not to be.
After several wretched days of strained wakefulness, the princess had begun to fade like a flower kept from water. Her skin grew paler; her eyes grew darker and nearly swallowed her face in their suffering.
This is where we hear of those three princes. Seeing the toll being taken upon their lady, and definitely not being the type of the hard-hearted, wicked princes, each vowed inwardly that she should suffer no longer and set out to recover her sleep.
