I believe in Happy Endings, a Valentine’s Day story

I don’t like books that are dark and dreary, unless of course they are ghost stories or mysteries.  Even so, they must end well.  I like happy endings.  Those books that do not have a joyful conclusion may be fine for winning Pulitzer prizes but they just don’t spin my wheels. 

The guy gets the girl, the team wins the game, and the child finds his dog, all perfect in my thinking.  I get it.  I am just a naive dreamer and I am not being realistic.   Things don’t always end that well.  Get a grip, right? Ah but you are wrong.  A good story goes like this…

There was once a woman who was living a happy life with her husband and beautiful daughter.  One day, her husband did not come home from work.  There was an accident, they told her.  The woman and her daughter were alone.

The woman became very, very sad and she retreated within herself.  Then one day she decided that enough was enough.  She picked herself up by her proverbial bootstraps and went to a group comprised of others who had also lost someone. 

She met a man, a man who had lived through a painful ordeal much like her own.  The man did not believe in happy endings of course, he was realistic.  The days passed and then one day he smiled that shy, boyish smile that caused her to, yes, smile as well. 

One thing led to another and soon they fell in love.  Ah, too soon the realists would say, but who can put a time constraint on love? Then, on Valentine’s Day the man proposed.  On her plate instead of the expected entrée sat a ring and across from that ring was that familiar intoxicating smile. Everyone said it wouldn’t work.  They all predicted doom; after all they both had children.  They both had responsibilities.

12 years have passed since that February day in a Mexican restaurant when a ring sat on a plate instead of the expected enchilada. The woman is happier than ever and every day beams at the man who helped her find her smile once again.  Who doesn’t like a happy ending?  Who thinks that they do not occur?  You don’t have to convince me because, you see, that woman is me. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!