Life according to Rapunzel

The past 72 hours have been a whirl wind of goodness and naturally I’ve learned something I deem at least partially worth sharing, so don’t mind if I do.

Friday at school was our day of celebrating the week of conquering the mountains we call ITBS.  After four long days of asking, provoking and even forcing students to, “Go back and Double, Triple, Quadruple check your work!” We deserved a celebration!

The afternoon was filled with ice cream sandwiches, Gator ball, a Pie thrown in my face (yup, it really happened!) and a movie.  We showed the movie Tangled to the 5th grade (it was mostly me forcing this idea on my team selfishly because I’ve wanted to see this movie for a LONG time).  Sadly however, I was running in and out of the movie for most of the afternoon so I was disappointed that I only caught bits and pieces of the movie.

Luckily for me, the celebration continued after the 3:20 bell and after track practice (which seemed much longer than it should have because I smelled of curdled milk thanks to the afore mentioned pie being thrown in my face).  I hustled home(showered!) and made a yummy meal for myself and one of my best friends from college.  When she arrived I was pumped to see her and show her a little glimpse into my life here in Clarinda, but I knew the night was headed toward greatness when she pulled out the movie Tangled and said, “We’re watching it tonight!”

It was a moment of great joy for me….I’m such a girl.  I was rather disappointed about my lack of focus earlier in the day when it came to this movie, so it was just what I needed to feel like I had finally accomplished my goal of enjoying the movie.

Now is the time where I have to interject that the movie was not really the greatest reason I was excited to have Kristin come visit me.  She is a beautiful, amazing woman who blesses me so much.  She is the type of friend who can pick up right where we left off without much explanation and I love that about her.  We had an awesome, relaxing, fun weekend together.

Now back to this Tangled mess…
For those of you who have not seen this movie, I would highly recommend it regardless of age or affinity for cartoon movies.   It is charming and spirited and just too cute.  My favorite part however, is the philosophy sprinkled throughout the movie that gives it a whole new depth.

There is a part of the movie where the main character, Rapunzel, is waiting to finally behold what she has dreamed about for so long and Eugene asks her something along the lines of how she is feeling.  She expresses something that I think we can all relate to.
She says, “I’m terrified.  What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?”
Eugene reassures her, “It will be.”
Rapenzel answers, “And, what if it is?”
He answers, “Then the best part is that you’ll get to find another dream."

I think of my life when I hear Rapunzel’s sentiments.

When I was growing up, all I wanted was to be a teacher and coach, find a husband, settle down and raise a family with the love that I was raised with.  I look at myself, and now is the time when I’m standing on the cusp of this dream.  I’m getting where that dream is within reach and I’m terrified.

What if it’s not everything I dreamed?

I can say right now that what I’m living is not what I pictured and that frightens me.  Just like Rapunzel, I know it would have been easier if I had just stayed in my tower and never journeyed to a place where I could possibly realize my dream, I could have played it safe.  You see, it would have been easier that way because it is the most frightening thing in the world to come face to face with something that you have thought about, dreamed about, prayed about and waited for.  What if I’m not happy?  All that dreaming, praying, waiting…wasted?

Now I know that wasted is a strong word and not really the case in this situation.  All of the praying, waiting, working was refining and I’m a different person for enduring this process of growing up.  But I can’t help but think there has to be more to my dream than what I’m living right now.

Rapunzel finds the strength to stand in the face of her greatest fear.  She finds this strength through true love (or else it wouldn’t be a Disney movie).  I continue searching for the strength, but I think I’m receiving it in small portions bit by bit.  And, I think I’m finding it through love too.

Now don’t be shocked that I may have a new love interest in my life, I don’t.  I’m receiving this love through and old love interest, the first one who won my heart.  I’ll let you guess who this might be.