The Art of the Kiss

by Holly Schindler

  Of course not. The tales send them off into the sunset. It’s implied that their stories continued out of our sight, and the rest of their days were lived in glorious satisfaction.

  But the thing is, the farther you get from a happily ever after, the more of a speck it becomes in your rearview mirror. The less it feels like a happy ending. It feels, instead, like a chapter square in the middle of a story. A momentary glimpse at perfection. A sample of what happiness tastes like…

  Because the world isn’t constant or predictable. Nor are the lives of those who inhabit it. Life throws one road block after another at us, even if the ring is on your finger and you’ve ridden your white horse straight into the bright red horizon, music soaring.

  Sure, you can complain. You can rail against it, stomp your feet and insist the world is mucking up your satisfying ending.

  But do you think the world actually cares?

  You get the answer to that question when the world throws the next round of mud in your face. When you are forced to embark on a quest to restore that happily ever after of yours. Oh, I know. “Quest” is such a funny word. It’s not the language of happiness. It’s the language of struggle. Of fighting. Doing battle. It brings to mind the image of a medieval army in protective chain mail. Swords and armor blazing. But when the world does throw mud at us, don’t we have to fight? For ourselves? Our love?

  The world is not intrinsically beautiful. Our belief that the world can be beautiful makes it so. We insist mudslinging can’t be the final word. We right the wrongs the world wants to dole out.

  Yes, we make it beautiful.

  Here’s another thing I truly believe: the fictional law of there being a single happily ever after needs to stay between pages filled with Prince Charmings, princesses, and fairy godmothers.

  Nobody really wants decades of a life that’s nothing more than a beach chair and a bottomless margarita glass.

  That would be boring. Overexposure can be the death of affection. Having nothing to eat but your favorite ice cream flavor begins to make you tongue burn, after a while.

  I suppose, then, by ensuring that happy endings don’t last forever, the world might actually be doing us a favor.

  Oh, we love the idea of fairy godmothers and help arriving out of nowhere. I think, really, that’s what we like more than anything about the tale of Cinderella. We like the idea of the universe coming to our aid simply because we are good. We have pure hearts and deserve rescue.

  We know that for the most part, that kind of help never happens. Not unless we are out there interacting with the world. Not unless we make it happen. Wishes aren’t exactly granted to us because we’re sitting on the couch whimpering, right? We have to move beyond our front doors.

  So maybe, just maybe, the world is acting as our fairy godmother by not allowing us to live out the remainder of our days floating along in a giant pool of bliss. Maybe the true happily ever after means being given the chance to make it across a race’s finish line again and again. Reliving the thrill of success.

  Send me your thoughts about this. I always love to hear from you. And thanks, Maryanne, for your thought-provoking question.

  For now, dear listeners, in the spirit of this very broadcast, this is the old storyteller bidding you not goodbye, but once upon a time…

  Reviews

  If you enjoyed The Art of the Kiss, I hope you’ll consider posting a review at the same site where you purchased the book. Reviews are always helpful, and are always appreciated. Recommending a book in-person to your reading friends is also a great way to support your favorite author or a novel you love. Word-of-mouth (either online or in real life) still remains the most powerful way to help books find their readership.

  Thank you!

  Holly Schindler is a multi-award-winning and critically acclaimed author of books for readers of all ages. She holds a master’s degree in English (creative emphasis), and has taught writing courses at the collegiate level. Schindler has also mentored extensively: honing students’ creative and scholastic writing, and providing developmental edits to both published and unpublished writers for novels in a variety of genres. A firm believer that reading is as creative an activity as writing, she has worked one-on-one with students in grades K-12 to improve overall literacy skills.

  Schindler insists that nothing is quite as magical as a good story or an exciting new “what-if.” She is currently chasing down her next “what-if” as she writes her next book. She also loves hearing from her readers. If you’d like to get in touch or subscribe to her newsletters, please visit her online at:

  HollySchindler.com