Happily Ever After

I love the creative process so much. I really believe that creativity is a God-like and God-given trait. I think it all started when I was just a little girl, reading stories with my mother. Those stories were the most creative thing -- they told of graceful and virtuous princesses and valiant and brave princes and they inspired me to be a writer someday. I wanted to create something just as wonderful for some other person as those stories were to me.

I don't really remember a time when I couldn't read. I was probably just fascinated with stories and books, and since I was the first child in my family, my mother was able to read to me a lot. I suppose I just figured out that those little squiggly lines on the page meant words! However it happened, though, I have loved stories, especially fairy tales, all my life. Hence the "Natalie Ever After" blog title and the "Sweet Nightingale" etsy shop!

Just before I started this blog, I found this amazing quote.

I have seen it attributed on various websites to both Walt Disney and to "Disney Imagineer", so I'm not sure the quote's author is actually known. (If you find first source documentation, please let me know and I'll correct this post!) I'm not as concerned with who the author is, though, because the words of this quote speak to me so deeply. It is such a beautiful way of expressing WHY fiction is so important -- because, in the end, what binds the whole human race together is the idea of a happy ending -- whether it's for here and now in the love that two human beings can share, or whether it's a heaven that you go to when you die. It really is magical to think that we can be happily ever after. 

I have never liked the argument that fairy tales give children the notion of a false reality -- that they grow up with unrealistic expectations of the world around them. I grew up reading fairy tales and cowboy stories (Louis L'Amour was a staple) and the sappiest romances (anyone else a fan of Janette Oke?) as fast as I could -- and yet, I saw the world through realistic eyes and didn't expect everything to be perfect once I found my one true love. Life is hard, and I believe it's hard to make us stronger -- but there is still that idea of happily ever after that really is magic!  And isn't that the dream that helps us keep going forward, working towards that goal?

I thought the pacing of this quote made it perfect to format like a poem, so I made these two colorways (one for boys and one for girls) to hang in my childrens' rooms. And then... I forgot about my plan, and discovered them again just tonight. I've since made a gallery wall of inspirational quotes, and I plan on hanging the boy colorway for fall/winter and the girl colorway for spring/summer, because I want my children to love words and books and believe in magic as much as I do. And judging by the way my kids sometimes get in trouble for reading too much in school read voraciously, I think they're well on their way.

If you would like either of these quotes, I have them in regular letter-sized paper (pdf form) here:

MAGIC QUOTE - GIRL COLORWAY

 

and here:

MAGIC QUOTE - BOY COLORWAY

 

The creative process is just the same -- it is such MAGIC to create something with your own two hands! My husband is a sci-fi/fantasy writer, and I know he feels that same magic when he is creating a world, or working through a particularly difficult scene. So, whether you believe in the magic of fairy tales, or the magic of the creative process, I hope you enjoy these printables -- and create a little magic of your own!