Friday, November 5, 2010

Debunking Happily Ever After...

"It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis." -Margaret Bonnano

I like the quote above because big climactic "happy endings" are mostly found only in fairy tales. But we can still choose to celebrate all the little happy endings along the way.

Wednesday night the theme for the Los Gatos Ward YW in Excellence program was "Your Happily Ever After." Since Brent was asked to give comments I was the annoying wife reminding him not to present the Princess riding off into the sunset with Prince Charming version of blissful happiness! The unrealistic version, that is!

Clearly too many girls have impossible expectations of marriage. Some don't think beyond their lavish weddings! Others (or maybe the same ones) demand perfection in a spouse while forgetting their own flaws.

So Bishop Knudsen did a nice job with his remarks; he probably didn't even need my commentary (but I'm afraid that's something he's stuck with). And seriously, while I never recommend lowering expectations relative to standards, I think being realistic versus head in the clouds about marriage keeps people grounded on what to expect from a spouse. Certainly not someone who will solve all your problems or make you happy 24/7 (that's your own job)!

"It struck me that the movies had spent more than half a century saying, "They lived happily ever after" and the following quarter-century warning that they'll be lucky to make it through the weekend. Possibly now we are entering a third era in which the movies will be sounding a note of cautious optimism: You know it just might work. -Nora Ephron