Once Upon A Time...

as current memory serves, A Long, Long, Long Time Ago, (yesterday), there lived a beautiful Princess, (a.k.a. Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Barbie, Lori,... you get the idea) in the lovely land called "Fantasy Land" (formerly called Never-Never Land but now operating under new management since Peter Pan has Grown Up and left) with her "Prince Charmer" (a.k.a. from his point of view "King" and currently known to others as the "Frog", named "Hey-You or That Guy," but sometimes known, from her point of view, as "The Royal Pain In The Butt").

In the year 19__ BA (Before Awareness), the "Princess" Lori, on one of her casual adventures (pre-planned Fantasy excursions) while she was just wandering around being Beautiful and innocent, had found the frog prince buried under a rock deep in a secluded forest, beneath a mountain, inside a frozen glacier on a star about to go Nova, and brought him home to marry him and have a, Happily Ever After Life.(See the very small fine print for specific details.)

After many eons of constant reminders by the Princess, the Frog finally turned himself into The Handsome Prince Charmer that she saw at first glance (OK -so she looked at him a lot before she decided to dig him out and dust him off, but now he's hers..)

After the Frog moved into the castle, he became the newly crowned Prince Charmer He thought, however, that she meant for him to be King. They never had formally discussed the specifics of his new job. He was smart enough not to ask for more details. Since he had discovered early on in childhood that... being inept or ignorant was blissful, or, at least, this approach got him out of doing what he did not want to do anyway. This realization was as important as remembering his father's Two Golden Rules: (1) NEVER to "read", "follow", or "ask" for Direction, and (2) to always say "Yes, Dear', or "I Love You" whenever he wasn't listening, and she asked him a question.

They started "The Family". He hoped that this would make her happy, or, at least, keep her busy, either would give him more time off to do what he wanted (play). However, One small problem occurred. He forgot to check out this assumption with the kids (not just one kid you see, for he was not a quick learner, besides the kids were supposed to play together)

He soon discovered, much to his dismay, that the "Kids" had other ideas about his time and what he was going to do with it. So, the kids arrived in the story along with odd relatives, brothers, sisters, grandparents, dogs, birds, fish, and fowl. All story extras supplied by "Once Upon A Time Unlimited Inc.", Earth's largest casting group.

One day, (having bit the apple many years ago at birth) the "Princess" awoke, and she finally found that the Glass Slipper was too tight, that the Bed was too small, and that her Hair was too short to reach the ground, She jumped out the tower window and ran away in search of her true Self. Finding her Self all alone for the first time (OK, so,this was one time that she was willing to experience it.), she grew frightened that maybe she had made the wrong choice in creating her own Fairy Tale and leaving the ancestral home (the tower prison).

She followed the purple brick road (Hey, so what's in a color anyway ?) to the magic Castle on the top of the Hill in the Land of " Make A Belief," or is it the Land of "Make Believe" (She always gets these two Lands con-fused.) Upon finding the castle hidden in her mind's eye, she entered and walked around until she saw the sign for the "Hall of Mirrors" (personal reflections). She entered and saw a magic mirror (Lots of them actually, in which, if she chose, she could see who she really is.)

Being freshly awakened, (from her prior non- conscious Waking Dream State), she became dis-illussioned (seeing the truth clearly), and she had to rub her face a lot to get all that Damn Star Dust from her Eyes to be able see....a shy, scared, lovely, fragile, strong, wise, caring, curious woman staring back at her, and she noticed ... Oh my what very large eyes you have; (Oops almost went into that other Fairy Tale- you know the one with the "Big Bad Wolf". This Princess was not interested in the "Wolf" experience as she had already Lived That Fairy Tale.)

(Back to the eyes) that twinkled, a big smile, and a face that glowed from the inside out. She asked the wondrous women in the glass, "Who are you ???" She was told (in a voice from deep inside her Heart), "Your Fairy God Person", (the politically correct nomenclature) and that she could have anything that she wished for. All she had to do was...............???

Try as HARD as she could, she just could not make out the whispers in her mind (The other voices were shouting too loudly for attention - the ones saying " It's too good to be true", "Don't Trust", "You don't Deserve it", etc.). She decided to take a closer look at her Self, the one in the mirror staring back at her. (She thought she recognized her Self but wasn't sure.) and........

She had to move much closer to the mirror (She wore glasses, and, currently, did not have them on, because as you know, she had formerly been an Ugly Duckling), in order to be able to make out the fine print at the bottom of her contract with her Self (the Really Important Boss Lady). While reading the Fine print (She had very small handwriting) that she had written a long, long, long time ago, and recently updated just yesterday ........,

She had this Blinding Flash of The Obvious that it was her Life, her Fairy Tale, and that Love is The Key, The Whole Ball of Wax, The Answer....

She still did not "Know All" the Right questions to ask and that really made her angry and afraid, but what the heck, with a good enough Answer you can always go searching for a Question that Fits. After taking several moments (maybe even years, depending on how attached she was to being right), she re-membered what she always "Knew".

That Choice was the second secret ingredient in the magic love potion she had drunk at her re-birth, and that all she had to do if she wanted to have fun, be happy, love, and experience being loved, was to ......(Big Blinding Flash Of The Obvious ).........

Combine Love with Choice, and offer her Secret Magic potion to all the other players in her Fairy Tale (life) , and if she did, they would always......................

Love Is...	A Fairy Tale ... ( sort of )	50 Fast Ways To Reduce Stress
Anger Is Not A Dirty Word	A Child's Dream...	50 Great Blinding Flashes
Trusting Your Self	Once Upon A Time. ..Maybe	What's In The "BFO" Book
We Had An Agreement.???	Forgetting To Remember