Cinderella after the ball…

Have you ever stopped to wonder how Cinderella felt after the ball?   She had had a very bad day.  Wicked stepmother ruining a dress she put together to go to the ball, yelling at the poor girl and banishing her to the kitchen.  Not a good day.  I am certain she felt like nothing good was ever going to happen to her.  This really tugs at my heartstrings.  I am certain we can all relate to that type of day.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, her fairy godmother appears.  Day is saved.  Pumpkin turns into a coach, mice are horses, rats are footmen, I believe a lizard is the driver and her ragged dress is turned into a designer gown complete with a hairstyle and glass slippers.

Wow!   What an ending to a bad day.    As we all know she goes to the ball, meets her handsome prince and they dance the night away, well, at least until the clock starts to strike twelve.  She runs away, leaving a glass slipper and even though everything else goes back to the way it was, she manages to keep one glass slipper.

A reminder.  A memento.  A physical object to let her feel and remember that night.  Did she look at it often after that night?  I know I would.

Now, I stopped believing in fairy tales long ago.  There is still that part of me, being a female, that longs for a fairy tale.  But, fairy tales and reality don’t live very well together.  It’s like the glass slipper giving you a blister.  It just doesn’t happen.

Saturday morning I woke up, had my cup of coffee and went online.  It’s a normal routine for me.  I open my email, go to my Bible verse of the day, study on that for a bit, go to my news page, weather, and end up with Facebook.  Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Well, on my email was a reminder about submissions for stories for a magazine I am hoping to contribute to.   I read the reminder, thought about my blog and the zero views I rack up daily and told myself, nope, I cannot do that.

Discouragement lifted it’s ugly head a little and gave me that sly smile.  I went to my Bible verse of the day.   Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”   One of my favorite verses.   I kicked  Discouragement away and smiled, yes, I am not going to fall for discouragement, I am going to delight myself in the Lord.   Sounds promising, doesn’t it? 

Well, like most things in life, I didn’t listen to my own pep talk, and by mid afternoon, I was really looking forward to preparing dinner.  I needed to pound some chicken breasts and I was ready to get hold of that meat mallet and pound something!  That, folks, is me, being very honest with you.

Since my day was moving in a downhill direction, you know, not just a gentle slope, but the hills you see that are more like a precipice, take one step and you will fall off the side of a mountain.  That was my mood and mind set.   Since I was like this, I figured I might as well see how an older post of mine which I had re-posted was doing on the blog.  I anticipated maybe three views, as I knew my cousin had looked at it and had actually shared it.  I knew hubby had read it and I knew that a man who graduated with my husband and had gone to the same church with me as a child had shared it.   I figured that could all add to my energy in pounding out my chicken breasts.

I went to my blog, I blinked.  I looked again.  I panicked!  Something was wrong with the blog site.  It somehow had my stats all messed up.  I started thinking of how to fix this error.  The number was in the 800’s.  I am really amazed my laptop didn’t just quit.  It’s not used to such excitement.  I sat there a minute.  I watched as the numbers climbed, rapidly.

I am part of a few blogging groups.  I have read posts where people have talked about having an abundance of views and how to handle it.   I read those posts, smile to myself and think, “how wonderful for them.  I will never have that problem.”

I have that problem.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great problem to have.   I know it must be a fluke, but, it’s a wonderful feeling.  I had the desires of my heart given to me.  Not a fairy tale, but, a gift from a loving God.   I actually had an audience to read what I wrote!

Stunned amazement, is an understatement.  Shock.  That’s a good descriptor.  Actually, though, I have felt muffled.  Like it’s a dream.  I have been walking around in a cocoon of cotton candy.  That’s how I have felt.  Things are suppressed.  My reality is off kilter.  I go to my stats page, almost afraid of what I will see.

The post that exploded had been written in 2012.  I remember writing it.  I wrote it in less than ten minutes.  It was just something I did.  I posted it and forgot about it.  Until last week when I re-posted it.

I felt like a writer.  I was so encouraged by the comments, the visits, the shares.  Forget the designer gown, forget the pumpkin carriage.  Words from people sharing their experiences, their thoughts, their memories wrapped around my heart lifting me up and bringing tears to my eyes.  Hearing that people played in the same park,  sledded on the same hills and spent summers in the same public pool.   Although, I know I was never alone doing any of that, hearing memories of people brought echoes of laughter to my mind.  I could feel the sting of a snowball to the face by some kid who was sled-riding at the church the same time I was.   I heard the music and smelled the chlorine at the pool, I could almost taste the french fries from the concession stand and I remembered the smile of my first boyfriend, a little bit of a side smile, but one I will never forget.

I sit today, looking at the stats, which are still extremely high for me, and I am thankful.  I never thought I would experience this.  I have no expectations, but I am going to attempt to somehow keep a forward movement in writing.   My stats page will be like my glass slipper.  I can go back and look at it, remember, and hold on to that memory.  The views and the comments are like the orchestra that played music for Cinderella to dance to, making her feel… worthy.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Thank you for being you.   Cathi (DAF)

 

 

 

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