Once Upon a Time...

(This entire fairy tale is written to the music of Castleville on Facebook....settle in and enjoy!)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young woman, named Mickie (it's a fairy tale...back off) who had many flaws but was still acceptable in the view of society.  She had two regal cats...Sir Stanley and Lady Lacey Mclace...and together they all lived in a small cottage near a forest of two trees...on the plains of a far away kingdom called Sterling.  The kingdom was called Sterling, because every day...at dawn...it sparkled like shining silver.

Each day, Mickie would cheerfully go about her chores...singing sweetly to the birds and woodland creatures who lived in the extremely tiny forest and each night she would dream of the day that she would meet a prince on the kingdom's matchmaking service...matchmaker.com.  So far she had only met two ogres, one troll, a gay man and made a lot of new friends....sometimes in a fairy tale things take longer....

One day, while she was walking between the two trees in the forest she came upon an injured seagull.  "Whatever are you doing in this forest," cried Mickie...as her glistening red hair fell around her shoulders to her waist...because it was so long, healthy and beautiful and...glisteny...(it's a word in this tale).  "I was traveling through Colorado with my friends pelican and egret during the winter and I lost my way.  A mean redneck shot me with his gun and I fell into this tiny forest."  With this, Mickie began singing and her sweet voice filled the two trees with a magical melody.  "If you stop singing and help me, I will grant you a wish...anything you have ever wanted.  I just want to return to my kingdom...Venice Beach, California."  "Certainly...I will help you and so will my two cats," and...although the seagull had misgivings about the cats...she allowed Mickie to help her.

So, Mickie healed the seagull and made a home for it in her bathtub in the cottage.  Her two cats were very helpful...but from a distance.  Finally, the day came that the seagull was completely healed and ready to leave.  "What is your wish fair maiden?  You and your two cats have been so good to me...I must keep my promise and grant your wish..." Mickie had thought for a long time what she would ask for, and...even though she dreamed of a handsome prince...she knew what she must ask for...her greatest wish..."I have only one thing that I truly wish for...right now...because I don't think the timing is right for me to meet a handsome prince...I want to move far away and help children in another kingdom."  And with that the seagull winked, flapped it's wings, pooped on her floor and flew away.

The very next day one of the kingdom's messengers came to her cottage and delivered an tmail (tale mail).  She carefully opened the message and read, "Teach for America would like you to move to the kingdom of Mississippi and teach high school English to unprivileged teenagers...in return we will give you a Master's degree in Education.  We will expect you the beginning of June."  This was better than any date or charming prince.....and luckily she had tmail so that she could keep in touch with all of her friends in the huge kingdom of Colorado.

You see...Mickie's wish really never had anything to do with meeting a prince...it was a dream to do good and explore and to help others.  And...one day...hopefully...there would be a prince who shared her dreams.  In the meantime...her two cats were really excited about this...and so was she.  Not every fairy tale is the same...not every fairy tale includes a marriage and finding the love of your life in the form of one person...sometimes the love of your life is what you want to do with yourself...who you want to be as a person...and...hopefully...really beautiful hair...

And...so it was that Mickie and her cats lived happily ever after...staying in touch with her friends and visiting every year...after a long trip with a U-haul and a lot of humidity and mosquitoes to the South....

The Beginning.....