Happily Ever After

By Claire Enos

I first read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare shortly after it came out back in high school, and I fell in love with the main characters (Clary and Jace). I mainly love Clary because she has red hair (which, hello! is soooo pretty!) and because we share the same first name, although I go by Claire instead of Clary. And Jace I fell in love with because he's hot! (At least in my mind he is!!!) And because I just love his personality. So I just had to watch the movie. I loved it so much that I looked up the soundtrack, and that's when I found it. My song. Or rather, I found the song that led me to My song.

Why do I keep capitalizing "My" you might ask? Well, because it just fits me so perfectly right now. I feel like if I'd had enough imagination and I wrote songs or even poetry, I could have written it. But I don't. (Write poetry or songs I mean).

All About Us. It's a romantic song, and the music video is amazing, inspiring, heart wrenching, beautiful, and lots of other synonyms as well. It's by a group called He Is We. They are amazing, but for a while I didn't really listen to any of their other songs. I was obsessed with All About Us. Then, today, I found it. My song. I found the one I could relate to. The reason I love reading, and writing in a roundabout sort of way: Happily Ever After.

We all have a story to tell.
Whether we whisper or yell.
We all have a story, of adolescence and all it's glory.
We all have a story to tell.
Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know.
Oh, skip to the ending, who'd like to know, I'd like to know.
Author of the moment, can you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

I have this habit, when I read, of skipping to the end to see how things end up and then go back to wherever I left off (usually at one of those high anticipation/action/emotionally draining moments) and see how their decisions lead them to where they end up. There are only a couple times I regret that little habit, but I won't spoil those endings for anyone so I won't say what books I regret doing it for.

Don't we all wish, at some point in our lives, that we could skip to the ending? See how things work out for the best? See our Happily Ever After? It's a nice thought, it really is. But unfortunately, life doesn't work out that way. We can't just skip to the ending to see how our lives work out. Maybe this is why so many people read, or watch movies, or write, or delve into the arts. It allows them an outlet for their emotions, and a way to experience the feeling of "Happily Ever After" again and again. The feeling of rightness that comes at the end of a book or a movie or a song or whatever it is we use to express ourselves.

So, as one last thought: Why don't we make every moment our Happily Ever After. At any one second of the day, we are where we need to be. We are doing what we are meant to be doing. We are experiencing life and love and pain and hurt. But, we are alive. Right now can be our Happily Ever After. Every little action has led us to where we are now, and every decision we make now affects our life in the future. So enjoy this moment for what it is, an experience!

Truly, our Happily Ever After.

<3Claire

PS: I tried to find a good picture to go with this post, but there are just so many options it was impossible for me to choose one so just imagine any infinite number of snapshots from your own life as you think about your Happily Ever After!