Oh Prince Charming, Where Art Thou?

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What is it about Romantic Comedies that everyone loves; well at least every girl loves. As I am sitting here writing this, I am watching Elizabethtown, where a, “suicidal sneaker designer (Orlando Bloom) gets a new lease on life when he heads to Kentucky for his father’s funeral and falls for a perky flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) along the way.”
Uhhh… What the?!?!?!?
Just reading that I am disgusted by myself. I am completely caught up on this bittersweet romantic comedy and why? Is it because like 99% of girls, I can’t help getting lost in Orlando Blooms eyes? Is it because I am imagining that this story is happening to me and for once in my life, I will get the guy? Is this why people fall head over heals for these sappy two star films?
You see I think that the true reason why people fall in love with these stories is because it helps fill in some type of hole inside people. I’ve felt it too people! I’ve had those days where I come home feeling completely helpless, telling myself not only am I a reject because no guy likes me but I grab the nutella and go watch one of my all time favorite movies, Pride and Prejudice, until I have convinced myself that my Mr. Darcy is coming for me.
I just need to wait….
And wait.
And like everyone else I am sick of waiting!
It’s the beginning of February and the only thing that is on my mind, as well as everyone else’s is Valentines Day. If I felt comfortable to cuss, I would say every curse word I could think of in a long sentence because that’s how much I hate Valentines Day. I say I hate it because I hate how the capitalist society has taken hold of the precious day and contaminated it with the lies of, “if you want the person you’re crushing on, go to the closest grocery store and buy flowers that will decompose in about 12 days, along with a box a chocolates, each piece of chocolate containing approximately 10,000 calories, so go ahead suckers, fatten up you’re crush!” Ok, maybe I’m bitter. I know deep down inside of my heart, that I hate V-day because I just feel so alone.
Call me a girl all you want.
When I see guys walking around with roses heading off to that lucky victim, and seeing a girl in my English Room beaming because she is having that epic moment of knowing that someone feels so much for them that they took time out of their day, and money, just to give her a gift, and show their affection.
Every year since 4th grade have I thought these thoughts. In fourth grade everyone still was giving each other those cheap Valentines Day cards with candy inside of them. This year however, was different. There was a guy named Dylan and I really liked him (as much as an elementary school girl could like a guy that is). The day before Valentines Day he came up to me during recess and told me that he had a, “special” Valentines Day card for me. My head started spinning of possibilities. In case you don’t know me, I like to exaggerate, and I always have been really good at it. So you can imagine when Dylan said this to me my brain began to whirl. My first guess was that he was going to propose to me and I would of course, have to say yes and try to explain later to my parents that I was just in love with him and they would have to deal. Don’t worry, it became a little milder after that. By the end I convinced myself that he was going to write a sappy, romantic poem about his true feelings about me and ask me to be his girlfriend. I was so excited for the Valentines Day Party the next day so I could see what he wrote me. I waited all day long, just longing for the party to arrive so I could see what I wanted to see. The time came, we all began ripping our cards open and scanning what people wrote to us. Most people were just tossing the cards away to get to the cheap candy, but not me. I finally got to Dylan’s card, it was glued together by a heart sticker. I gently opened the card to reveal my destiny written in the paper.
You know what I found?
You want to know what he thought a “special” card was?
It was a Digi-mon Valentine Card saying something that only people obsessed with Japanese animation could enjoy! I remember looking down at it with disbelief and I remember screaming in my head, “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!” I didn’t let him get away with it either. Oh no, I got up stomped to my victim and demanded him to explain why I got the dumb card.
He just looked at me and explained that it was the best card he had, it was his favorite character.
And he gave it to me.
It didn’t matter to me though, I didn’t hear him. He disappointed me. You see, I came up with these elaborate ideas of what could, “special” be. I even wore my best outfit that day so I could be extra pretty for him. I wanted this one thing that the media, and teenagers, and romantic movies portrayed to me. I wanted my prince charming, at fourth grade! I wanted true love, and I wanted my prince to be Dylan.
I was so crushed, and that day was the day that I decided that I hated Valentines Day. This romantic holiday along with all of the mushy messages the world gives to us just makes us so alone and disappointed.
Now, I don’t know about men, because, I’m not one. I don’t know about other girls because God has made us all different, but for me, I have been struggling a lot with the whole, “wait for your true love, and wait for your prince charming because he’s coming.” Why can’t I have him now? I’ve been such a good girl, why can’t he be here for me now? Why do I have to struggle every year around this time with people being happy and people thinking that they are loved? I want to be them so badly.
Then it hit me.
I have my prince charming. He’s right here, helping me writing this message to people.
I just came back from an amazing trip to Powderburn. It was the first Powderburn trip that completely broke me and made my relationship with god so tangible. We became so close that weekend, my faith was like the faith of a child. I was playful and happy and open to everything life and God had to offer me.
And then Valentines Day had to come along and ruin everything.
No… I tried to ruin everything.
I have this most amazing relationship with my own Prince Charming, Jesus. Think about it ladies and gents, for just a second. Every woman wants the perfect guy, the guy who will treat her more precious than diamonds and rubies. That will wait until they are ready to take the next step. Who is loyal to them and loves them, even if they gain a couple of pounds or wears no make-up. We want the guy who will be there no matter what, and will never judge them no matter how horrible they think they made their life be. That will stand by them through all of their decisions and will always forgive them, even if we think what we did was to unforgivable. This is every woman’s Prince Charming.
We try to look for this in every human guy that passes us through the hallways. We re-create ourselves all the time just to get this one guy that caught our eyes. We get to wrap up in this one person, that we stray from the one true Prince Charming, from the perfect Mr. Darcy.
When Valentines Day comes this year, it’s going to be the first year that I won’t feel the lonely hole inside my heart. This year, I have finally recognized that I have what I’ve been begging for many years. I have the perfect man, who will be there for me through anything.
I hope everyone reads this, and truly thinks about it.
Have a wonderful Valentines Day and remember how much Jesus Christ loves you!

Guest writter~ My Daughter