When I was small, I read a hardcover Disney-version Cinderella book so many times the edges frayed. I loved the book not because of the "happily ever after" ending, but because I just l-o-v-e-d the dress that Cinderella wore to the ball! I can't remember, as a child, believing in romantic fairy tale endings, nor do I tend to believe in them now. Even when I see them as a grown up (Jamee and Andres!), I still don't believe.
What I do believe in these days is the concept of a relationship as a partnership. I believe in relationships where each partner takes turns giving, taking, and at the end of the day no one is happy 100 percent of the time (like Cinderella and her prince), but no one is unhappy 100 percent of the time. I admire those couples in my life who seem to be able to accomplish this type of partnership, and when I see it, I ask how it is done. This is what I aspire to. I don't need happily-ever-after; I want and need something much more simple: a partner.
Maybe that is the real happily-ever-after.
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