I recently realized something about myself that I somehow managed to miss before. My obsession with books has always managed to be a source of entertainment for my friends and family in some way shape or form. Whether it was the fact that my books held my bed up better than the frame at one point or that I had more books in my closet than clothes, there was always something to find entertaining about my obsession with the written word. It really didn't matter what it was I would read anything I could get my hands on. In the last four months I have worked my way through that book collection and have taken it down to a mere fraction of what it once was. I just realized though in looking over what I kept that there was this consistent theme that emerged from the choice of previously read books that I held on to.
Now like every self respecting single young woman I will confess a LOT of the books in my collection seem to have been romance novels. The interesting thing I discovered as I pulled books off of shelves and tossed them in boxes for Half Price Books, those were some of the easiest to part with and when I look at the remaining books now, I find a trend in the romance novels I couldn't quite make myself part with which led me to realize something that I didn't realize at the time I was reading them. The trend I found myself noticing was that the books with the Cinderella storyline - Girl meets boy, instant attraction, short period of knowing one another, then on to marriage- didn't make the cut. Every last one of them ended up in the boxes. The ones that were left were those with more of a Beauty and the Beast storyline - Girl meets boy, a gradual friendship occurs and the couple ends up in a place where they discover their life has become better because the other person is in it to the point a deeper relationship develops almost without their realizing it until the relationship is threatened.
That said, no the purpose of writing this is not to expound on some romantic revelation I had, but the fact that it made me realize even my preference in reading material has probably been telling me something for years and I just kept missing it. Relationships that have meaning are hugely important to me. I don't do well as an island. I need people in my life who will encourage and challenge me and that I can trust to give me advice. Those don't develop in the superficial world of Cinderella relationships. Those are found in the darker less appealing world of Beauty and the Beast. They are found as you come to accept one another with the faults and failings you both bring into the relationship.
The thing I've always wondered about Cinderella is what happened over the next 10 years after she rides off with the prince? After all they really didn't know anything about one another. How many times did the fairy tale meet a bump in the road? On the other hand I never wonder that in Beauty and the Beast. They knew one another rather well, by the end of their story and were better set to expect the bumps in the road. Yes, we tend to take away from Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast the romantic story, but as I looked at the books remaining on my shelf I realized that whether its a romance, biography, fiction or non-fiction I'm left with the feeling that my favorite books over the years have been telling me I have a desire for more meaningful relationships in every area of my life. It's a funny thing to realize that you probably had the key to an area of your life long before you ever figured out what it was for...
