She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing. - Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28 )

Once upon a time is not how all stories begin and happily ever after is not how all of them end. Just what does happen after the story ends and books are closed" What happened before the story started" Why were the stepmothers and step-siblings generally made out to be horrible people" Even as a child, I wondered about those things. My parents didn't have what I'd call a perfect marriage, but is there such thing" What they did have was a solid and happy lifetime partnership. Velen and I were both blessed in that regard. Like the parents we left behind, their counterparts here are good people at their core. I say at their core because, sometimes, good people are placed in circumstances where they must weigh choices for the greater good. My grandmother had done that as far back as I can remember.

Someone once said that to ask for what is right is not always fair and what is fair is not always right. Does Maggie have the right to know what might be ahead for her" Is it fair of me to not tell her" Her path has already deviated from the childhood and preteen years that I had. The telltale signs are pretty easy to spot when you know what to look for. I was good in the dueling rings, but she has more drive for it than I ever did. There's something inside her that burns, but slowly. Well, it was burning slowly, but things have changed in the last year. Given the circumstances, it gives me pause to reflect on what might have been. At some point, she seems to have decided that she's going to stand on her own or, at the very least, be ready to.

I've seen some possibilities for others, but not for her as it would be looking into what could have been for me. I don't want to know. I'm living in what is the present or the now for me and I'm at peace with it. It's more than being at peace, I'm happy most of the time. Life is not always perfect.

Some people say, 'The play's the thing,' and for some that is true. I found myself getting lost in the role of Coppelia. When I was in my tween stage, I spent a lot of time making my way through Uncle Eregor's collection of films. A favorite of mine was and still is a story about a magical car, 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.' The leading female role is that of Truly Scrumptious. The performance of her dancing like a wind up doll on music box helped me to get a very good idea of how Coppelia should move and dance. I pretended that I could hear gears in motion as I bent my elbows and knees. I had bit of fun with flopping forward as if hip gears had failed to work properly. Success! I could hear giggling in the crowd during the comedic moments. Dancing still gives me as much pleasure, now, as it did when I got my first pair of toe shoes. There is a freedom and joy in it that one does not always find in other activities.