Once upon a time there was a Princess. She was very sad and lonely so she did things to try to make herself happy. Her very favorite thing was shopping. She shopped and shopped and shopped till her castle was very full and there was no more room. Yet, she was still sad.

One day a Prince came and they fell in love and got married and the Princess was very happy. But the Prince died. And the Princess was lost without him. She cried and cried till there were no more tears. She didn’t know what to do. Shopping wasn’t fun anymore. She had to find something else to make herself happy.

She discovered the joy of sporting goods stores and Home Depot. She wore absolutely outrageous red cowgirl boots and fringed jackets and embarrassed her grand daughter in the mall. She lived in a trailer and paddled upstream in a kayak. She rode a bike and camped under the stars and listened to music and danced with wild abandon around an open fire. She traded her tiara for wings and a pickup truck.

And she was finally free.

❤

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Isaiah 55:12