The Princess Complex

We all have it; I'd even like to think princes do too. As brushed upon in Leslie Jamison's, "A Shadow of Fairytale", we all have the princess complex. The complex can be understood and inflicted in different outlets-- just as they are many different princesses. For example, Lily is infatuated with the 'evil stepmother'. This infatuation comes from what she thinks she deserves as a response to loss. Moving away from motherhood, girls are almost always the same. We grew up reading stories and telling them again to our dolls, stuffed animals and action figures.

Cinderella was never invited to the ball and she only found her prince because she wore a size six. Sleeping beauty was trying to catch up on some zzzzz's before some dude thought he could wake her up with a kiss; try again buddy and maybe take her out to dinner first. Switch it around and Snow White had to kiss the guy to wake him up. You get the point, there is a lot of pressure on princesses. What does this mean for us girls when we are growing up? We don't think we are good enough without our prince.

Leslie and Lily's story is different; it is about family, love and motherhood. However, is it wrong to say that Lily might be Leslie's prince in a way? Lily held Leslie's credibility in her hand without even knowing it. If Lily didn't approve of her new stepmother, where would that leave Leslie's relationship?

Don't get me wrong, we all need a good fairy tale and a happy ending-- preferably on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn-- however these stories have still engrained this parallel of rejection and approval for us. Being good enough vs not being good enough. I didn't play sports for a reason and I still can't hide from pointless competition. Here is the key though, you are playing against yourself. Lily came to know her new stepmother and more importantly came to love her without any thoughts of approving or rejecting her. You don't need a prince. You just need to be a princess in your own way.