I still dream, daydream that is. Where queens rule, and men, well, they take good care to love us queens and princesses just as we are. I still have visions of a backyard writing atelier, some would call it a studio or “She Shed”. Afternoon teas and evening dinners savored on the patio well into nightfall. Alongside would be beautiful flower gardens, a prolific kitchen garden, a beautiful rooster and chickens plucking the unwanted bugs, with time enough to put up the herbs, vegetables, and fruits at harvest as provisions through the winter. We aren’t talking acres and acres, just in my own smalltown backyard, allowing every space to be productive. For someone who had a 1300-square foot screenhouse/greenhouse, you would think a backyard plot would be manageable. Other unforeseeable events and the physical limitations of an autoimmune disorder have almost swallowed my dreams. Those dreams are resurfacing as I witness the inflammation go down in my body when I eat 5 or 6 vegetables a day. Happily-ever-after dreams can come true.

“Though the darkness close, even the night will blossom as the rose.” ~ John Masefield, “Growing Old” poem

In April of this year Roo was reunited with Kanga. Queen Camilla brought to the United States a Roo made especially for Winnie the Pooh’s 100-year anniversary to be reunited with Kanga. As the Smithsonian Museum story goes “During the British royal family’s state visit to the United States this week, Queen Camilla made a detour from the political events and state dinners to visit the New York Public Library, where she attended a literary celebration and quietly accomplished something that has been waiting to happen for nearly 90 years: she reunited Winnie-the-Pooh with a dear friend. The original stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne’s beloved books, including Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, and Kanga, have lived in a display case at the library since 1987, after spending decades on a tour of the United States beginning in the 1940s, having originally been given to Milne’s son Christopher Robin as gifts between 1921 and the late 1920s. But one member of the group had been missing since the 1930s: little Roo, Kanga’s baby, lost in an apple orchard and never recovered. Camilla’s gift was a lovingly recreated replica of Roo, crafted by Merrythought, England’s oldest surviving teddy bear manufacturer, using an original Kanga and Roo found in the company’s own archives as a reference.” Fictional characters reunite in happily-ever-after fashion. This isn’t just limited to storybook fables.

Another 100-year old anniversary is the famous Route 66. So many celebrations are taking place along the highway for its centennial year. My husband and I recently viewed the Route 66 display at the Missouri History Museum located in Forest Park. Outside were parked vintage classic cars we loved viewing. In my book Strewn Words in The Stew Volume 1, I wrote a short story called “Two Hungry Hearts And Soup For All”, where the setting of the story is along Route 66 while two college undergrads embark on an adventurous summer social experiment. Parts of the story are based on my true experiences. Much like the characters in the old fable “Stone Soup”, these two main characters are looking for the good in people. Are there still people with heart? You will have to read my story to know what the main characters find out. I see these other happily-ever-after dreams happen around me. Watch out world. More are coming.