A Trite but True Fairy-Tale

Once upon a time, there was a young bloggess who wrote about her lack of value and her quest to become someone beautiful and sought after by all those around her.  One day, she went to a bar in a strange town and started up a conversation with a handsome young man from Ireland who happened to be traveling in the far-off land.  He asked her to dance, and they continued to talk and smile at each other.  Suddenly, as the electronic bass of another nameless club song rang through the giant-ass speakers of the packed beer hall, he held her by the shoulders, leaned in, and kissed her. 

The young bloggess took this kiss to mean that she had some value, and relishing the feeling of being valuable, she sought kisses wherever she went.  The more kisses she got, the more awesome and valuable she believed she was.  Conversely, when the kisses ran out, she felt as though all her beauty and value had dripped off of her like non-colour-fast dye and run down the sewer grate, never to be seen again.

One day, not so many days ago, a slightly older and slightly wiser bloggess had an epic long weekend of togetherness.  She danced and ate and drank and laughed and swam and smiled and flew.  She spent many hours with friends, and a few hours alone, and each hour was excellent in its way.  She even thought one or two gentleman might have wanted to kiss her.  But nobody did.  And that was ok.

For you see, the slightly older bloggess was learning that it wasn't the kisses that made her awesome.  It was herself.  And she knew this was a lesson she had still only grasped in the most tenuous of ways.  It would still be too easy to let go of all the worth she had placed in herself if she went out in search of kisses and was denied them now.  Instead, she held steadfast to the notion that while the long-held eye contact and pregnant pauses were a result of her awesomeness, she would still be awesome if the eye contact were never made, and the pauses were filled with conversation.

At that moment, the bloggess knew, the kisses might have happened, and she was valuable and beautiful and awesome anyway.  And that was good enough for her.