Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a small town with her Mommy and Daddy and her little brother and sister. She loved them all very, very much, and she was very happy living with them. Happy as she was, though, this little girl wished and dreamed for something more. She dreamt of going to the big city. She dreamt of traveling the world. She knew that there were so many things to see, and her Daddy told her that she was right, but that she would have to work very, very hard in school first.

So, the little girl, one day when she wasn't quite as little anymore, decided that she would only be satisfied with the very, very best. She stayed up night after night, studying as hard as she could, so that she could, one day, leave the small town she loved so very, very much and move to a big city and travel across the world. She had friends, some of them very good friends, but they all came and went, and the little girl didn't care very much, because she knew that all she had to do was to work hard, just like her Daddy said.

The little girl did very, very well, and accomplished many things. Everyone was very proud of her. When she was a young woman, she moved away from the small town and went to school in a city--not quite as big as the city she had always dreamed of, but "it'll do, for now," she thought. She liked to watch movies about bigger girls in bigger cities, who had lots of beautiful clothes and shoes, and friends to shop, eat, and go dancing with, and who would hug them if they were sad.

The little girl knew she had to keep working hard, but watching these movies made her a little bit lonely, so she decided to make some friends. Her friends made her very, very happy, but soon they all began to move to the big, big city. The little girl was very lonely and sad without them. Then, one day, she had the best idea! She decided that she would go to the big, big city, too!

So, when the little girl was no longer a little girl anymore, but a grown woman, she packed her bags and moved to the big, big city. She was never scared, as she had always imagined she would be, because she had so many friends to shop, eat, and go dancing with, and they would hug her if she was sad.

The little girl finally lived in the big, big city! All her dreams had come true! She ate the finest food, shopped at the finest stores, and went dancing at the finest places. She had the very best friends, too. The very best. The little girl's life was perfect!

The only problem was that most of her friends worked very, very hard, too--sometimes too hard, the little girl thought. That was the problem with people in the big, big city, the little girl realized. They all have to work very, very hard, because that's what people in big cities do. Sometimes, they don't have very much time for their friends, and it made the little girl sad. It was easy to keep making new friends, but the little girl didn't want to spend the rest of her life making new friends.

She began to think about her Mommy and Daddy, and how they loved each other very, very much. She realized that she wanted to love someone very, very much, too, and that she wanted him to love her back very, very much. She told this to her friends in the big, big city, but they didn't understand. They were too busy. The little girl, who was not a little girl anymore, and hadn't been for quite awhile now, realized that she wanted to fall in love. And, the little girl who wasn't so little anymore, realized that sometimes, the big, big city is not the place you want to be when you realize that you want to fall in love.

So, the little girl decided to leave the big, big city. She didn't know where she would go, but she hoped that she would live happily ever after.