Just lately, I've noticed an increase in stories that are ending either in tragedy or still with unresolved conflict. It seems as if authors are losing their belief that happy endings are real, that they CAN happen anymore.

I find that sad. You see, I do believe in happy endings, not because of some 'pie in the sky', hopeful ideal, but because I AM someone's happy ending (as he is mine,)  and nearly 25 years afterward, I fully intend to REMAIN just that for a man who doesn't believe in happy endings, either.

The story of how my hero lost his faith in happy endings is a cruel one. You see, to the rest of the world (and when one is in a small-town, public school, that world is very small, indeed) my beloved was a too-short, balding, waste of classroom space. Teachers looked at his poor grades and dismissed his importance.

His fellow students saw an unusually short, underachieving fifteen- year- old trying to hide a rapidly receding hairline under ball caps.  It only took a few fights before would- be bullies learned to leave my beloved alone. He may be short, but I've met few who are stronger without actively trying to gain muscle.

What nobody in the school system bothered to find out was WHY my beloved was so unable to concentrate in his schooling, why homework went undone and frequent absences bordered on truancy.  You see, his father had purchased the family farm from an older brother just ahead of bankruptcy. Pa took on his older brother's debt and the farm debt in order to please his father, leaving adequate employment to do so. 

Unfortunately, Gramp and the older brother were usually too inebriated to help much. In desperation, Pa turned to the only available help he had. My Beloved began his farming career at the age of five, helping Daddy milk the cows by watching to see when a cow was done and needed the milking machine switched to the next cow, changing the filters and handing his daddy the cloth that would wash an udder clean.

As my Beloved grew, the farm duties grew in proportion with him until it fully occupied his time and attention. How can one concentrate on math and history when crops need harvesting, equipment needs repair (to this day, he's the only one mechanically inclined and capable of effecting those repairs) and did that one heifer freshen (have a calf)  yet? What if she needs help?

Not only that, but when one works until dark, only to start again at 3am, one is usually too tired to concentrate on word problems and paragraphs. Farming full time leaves little time for homework, let alone studying. 

When my beloved failed to show up on the first day of ninth grade, having waved to the bus from the seat of his tractor, no one in the school said a word. I doubt anyone cared. (Having met one of his teachers, years later, my doubt is well- founded.)

Fast forward nearly ten years; my beloved has asked his girlfriend to marry him.  (We had yet to meet; I didn't live in the area.) She said yes, but returned the ring almost a year later. My beloved was told that she'd found someone better. His heart was shattered.

Believing the lies told to him by the school, his classmates and that woman (to this day, referred to by him only as 'she',) my beloved decided that he was unlovable, that he would never marry, and focused all of his attention on the family farm. Three years later, when his mother asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, 'a woman. Just kidding Ma, a pizza'.

His mom wasn't joking though. I met my Beloved because she set us up on a blind date- on his birthday.  Thirteen years later, I found out that Ma had invited my mother over for tea beforehand to discuss the match. To this day, I joke (only half- kidding) about our arranged marriage.

My wonderful, loving husband is also an amazing dad to our 5 birth children; all children he once longed for with no real hope of having. So you see, our wedding was the start of his 'happily ever after. '

My husband told me a few years ago that he is still waiting for me to 'come to my senses' and leave him. He still makes jokes about it and it breaks my heart that he doesn't believe in happy endings. By the time I met him, his heart was so badly broken, all ability to hope for the best had been crushed. I am determined to prove him wrong. We will be together until the end because there is no other alternative to me.

The thing is, 'happily ever after' doesn't mean that nothing bad will happen or that there won't be misadventures, that there won't be disappointments. Happily ever after means that we work it out and are content to remain together. We work together to overcome whatever comes up. Happily Ever After means that for the rest of our lives, we are content together, come what may.  We weather storms of life together- losing the 5-generation family farm to three generations of bad debt, layoffs, death in the family, empty nest, and now a pandemic . . . Come what may, we are together, happily ever after.

So you see, when you get to the end of a children's novel and see the words, 'and they lived happily ever after,' that doesn't mean that they didn't have problems and troubles. I'm sure Cinderella's toilet backed up once in a while and for sure her garden had weeds in it! It just means that they are together and committed to fight, side by side, come what may, until the end. This is why that 'happily ever after' is so important; it emphasizes the importance of that commitment and the fact that they are possible. 

Side note: I figure if the ultimate Author felt the need to end His Book with the ultimate 'happily ever after', then I should as well. I have faith that the Author and Perfecter of my faith, of ME, will give me a happy ending, so I give my characters one. Be blessed!