But what kept striking me over and over was the way that Ashley kept talking about the expected proposal. These reality TV love shows always end in proposals, you know. Multiple times, Ashley referred to the proposal as her "happy ending." That bugged me. Because, I don't feel like the marriage proposal should be considered the happy ending...it should be a happy beginning.
I think that even today, girls have it hammered into them from an early age that their "happy ending" is to ride off into the sunset with their prince charming with a shiny ring on their finger. But if that's the happy ending, then what else is there? I'm no expert on life past young adulthood, but I'm fairly certain that there's a whole heck of a lot of stuff that happens after you ride off into the sunset together...to call a wedding proposal, or even to call marriage a "happy ending" is doing an injustice to the rest of your life, I think - whether to that part of your life that shows up after you say "I do", or to that part of your life that wasn't "happy" enough because it didn't yet include a spouse.
So, if and when I become engaged, I would like that to be my "happy continuation" - presumably, if me and Mr. Future Husband are getting engaged, a certain level of happiness has already been attained, and hopefully there remains much happiness to be discovered. None of this "happy ending" talk, please.
Just something to think on...
