I Don't Need Wings to Help Me Fly

Today at work I was procrastinating and getting distracted (nothing too ground breaking), so I scrolled through Facebook to let my brain take a break from the psychology of lights and all their glory.

While browsing through my timeline, I noticed that one of my best friends back home had posted a new article that she had written. She, Lauren [Shields], write for the Odyssey at Michigan State and is a journalism major, so I always enjoy when she posts a new article. The one that she had posted today was titled “The Kids Are All Right”.

Not only was it exceptionally well written, it made me think about my own life and where I’m at today and where I came from.

When you’re little, you look at grown-ups and your role models and are in awe at how much they’ve got it together. And then you get a little older, and you realize that everyone is winging it; sometimes you take a chance, a leap of faith, and it gets you to a place where you are now a role model.

Looking back on my childhood, I imagined the “perfect” life I would have when I was older… And it was essentially that of a Disney princess.

You may laugh and scoff, but they had it all together (by the end of the movie usually). They had a prince who would save them from whatever harm came their way, they got to wear pretty dresses and had perfect hair, they were respected by their kingdoms and the forest animals (or sea creatures); no matter the plot line, come the credits, the Prince and Princess were always living “happily ever after”.

But when you eventually come to stumble and fall through the trials of life (and inevitably pick yourself back up) you realize what bull shit (pardon my French) lives the Disney princesses lead. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good Disney classics binge on a Sunday evening, but that doesn’t mean their story line is an ideal model to mold your life around.

Coming to London, I knew no one. Back home I have the comfort of friends, a boyfriend, a family, my dog (I miss my Tana Banana)- and here I have none of that at an accessible distance.

You quickly learn that prince charming (aka your boyfriend) isn’t always going to be able to protect you when a creepy guy approaches you or when an older man starts following you. You realize that you will be put in situations where all you want to do is be back home, with the security of knowing that your parents are in the room next to you (or a 2 minute drive from you, hi mom) and that your friends are around the block- but that won’t always be the case. Sometimes all you have in this life is yourself, so you gotta put on your big girl pants (which my butt looks great in, by the way) and make some moves- and make yourself proud, because no one is going to do it for you (isn’t it exhilarating/scary to think that this life is going to get harder and more complicated? How beautiful).

And as I leave meetings, and sip the wine, and stare at my 3 computer monitors, I realize that this girl from Warren, Michigan is now in London, England making a name for herself. They should make a princess like that (because we all don’t live in the English Renaissance era).

So yes, Lauren, you are correct- the kids are all right.

(Even if it doesn’t always feel like it)