What is your happily ever after?

This morning I woke up cranky as hell. I was so tired and would have given anything to go back to sleep. I wasn't even out of bed yet and I felt the soul-sucking, bone-crushing exhaustion wrapping it's vice grip around me. I knew I needed to find a way to feel better about the day, I needed to dig deep and find the strength to carry on. I got up and washed my face with ice-cold water. I brushed my teeth, pulled a brush through my tangled hair, and found an old pair of legging to put on. I helped the kids get ready for the day and found them some breakfast.

We spent the morning immersed in a world of make-believe. First we played with the potato heads and princess castle. We built towers and bridges out of lego. We pulled out the car mat and drove on the cartoon roads. Finally as the morning wore on and the littles started to tire they decided it was story-time. We read book after book after book. Stories about colours, animals, dinosaurs,  numbers, and great adventures. Many of the stories ended that classic way... "And they lived happily ever after. The end."

"Mama, what happens then?" Isaac questioned. After I managed to stop being flabbergasted at the fact that he knew the story doesn't really end there I thought about his question. "I don't know babe. What do you think happens?"

This question hit me hard. I remember reading books and watching movies as a kid. I remember wondering what happened to all those royals after the wedding. In my little mind they always moved to the country, kept chickens and cows, usually there were horses involved and of course babies would follow. I guess there was some weird country mouse crossover in my little brain.

For Isaac, he usually tells me how the characters go swimming or to the park, sometimes he tells me about a new adventure they go on or how they go see their grandparents. Today he told me that the dinosaur in his story was sick and needed to go the doctor to get some pokes. "It's ok though mom, the doctor will make him feel all better." He reassured me.

It's interesting how these happily ever afters make the characters from the stories so much more real. I wonder what Zoey will think about what comes after happily ever after.