A closer look... from Belle's perspective...

A few days ago, I was running some errands around town and Ms. Ellie was strapped in her car seat tagging along with me.  She was a little fretful, so I turned on Pandora (love it!!) and we listened to some cool kids music.  I was singing along with her, and she was smiling in no time.  We went through some Veggie Tales, some Muppets (Mahna Mahna totally rocks, if that song can't make you smile, nothing will!), and then some Disney cartoon theme songs started playing.  The little girl in me has always loved the Disney animated movies and cartoons, especially the classics.  When one of my favorites came on, Beauty and the Beast, I began to sing along with it (word for word, mind you), and it hit me... of all the fairy tales out there, this one could actually be applied to everyday life.  And this is one where I can actually understand the mindset of the girl.  (I always had trouble understanding Cinderella...)

I won't bore you by going through the storyline, I'm assuming most of you already know how it goes.  But I want to share a few things I really like.

Belle loved to read.

I love how she appreciated a good book, and would read it over and over.  I have done that countless times.  There is nothing quite like re-reading a favorite book, where the characters are so familiar and become more like old friends.

She was most definitely a "daddy's girl".

My, oh my, how I can relate to that one!  Now, my Daddy may not be a quirky, chubby, inventor with a white beard (his would be more salt and pepper if he let it grow out), but I can't even begin to express in words how much I am a daddy's girl.  She watched out for him, stood up for him, and risked her own life to find him when he was lost in the woods.

She had a little bit of a temper.

She wasn't your average fairy tale girl character.  She had a little spunk, and it made me like her all the more.  When something wasn't right, she stood up for what she believed in... of course, with grace and poise.  :)  Ever the fair lady, she still had a mind of her own.  But those opinions didn't make her into a brat or someone that was hard to get along with.  It simply added a little spice.  :)

She was somewhat daring and curious, but knew where to draw the line.

Ok, so she went to the "forbidden" side of the West Wing in the castle early on.  You gotta give her a little credit for curiosity.  But when she was found out, she apologized, and I don't recall her going back there until the Beast took her there himself to show her the mirror to help find her father.

She saw something beautiful in the Beast, even though he hated himself.

This is my favorite thing about her.  She fell in love with the Beast before he turned back into Prince Charming.  In fact, when she fell in love with him, she didn't know who he really was, nor did she know that he would ever change back! 

 

There was a hideous face instead of a perfect one, yet she looked at him lovingly.  There was anger, bitterness, and a horrible temper to deal with, yet she was kind and patient with him.  

 

  It didn't take a lot to win her heart... only a library... 

He found out her passion for reading (two points for him asking around and trying to find out what pleased her!), and gave her the enormous, massive library in hopes of winning her heart... and boy, did it ever work.  But even before that time, she had already begun to like him.  The gift was just icing on the cake.
 

He truly let her go... and she came back.

 

Ok, this is the mushy part of my heart showing here, but wow.  A lot can be said about true love letting go.  And even more about true love coming back.

Don't worry, dear readers.  I do not live in a fairy tale dream world, I know this is simply a made up story.  But all I wanted to do in this post was speak what's on my mind.  If you know me at all, you know that I love to find life lessons in unlikely places.  Well, here ya go... some lessons learned...

• Challenge yourself to find something beautiful in those who hate themselves.  

• Try not to focus on the ugly things staring you in the face, but look deep into the heart.  There's something beautiful in just about everyone. 

• Make someone happy, someone who would have otherwise never been happy if not for your kindness.

• Enrich a lonely, forgotten life.  (If you don't know where to look, start in your local nursing home.  As a nurse, I can guarantee you'll find someone there.) 

• Give someone else the benefit of a deeper, closer look.  Who knows... someone may have done the same thing for you.

 So, thank you Ellie.  Thank you for being fretful in the car with mommy.  It's because of your being fussy that this blog post was even created.  Hopefully, your tears can somehow, in some way, help dry the tears of someone else.