I still remember the day that I got my first library card as if it were yesterday. I was about seven years old. What a grand day that was! I left the library with as many books as my little arms could carry, for books introduced me to different people and different things. Books whisked me away to far off lands.

One of my favorite books was the Bobbsey Twins which I’m told was one of the longest running series of books ever. There were two sets of twins: Bert and Nan who had dark hair and dark eyes. Freddie and Flossie who were the younger of the two sets both were blonde with blue eyes. The family had a housekeeper named Dinah and a houseman named Sam. 

Every year the family went on vacation to the seashore, to visit with their uncle on the farm, etc, often taking their dog and cat with them. How different they were from me, an inner city child with brown skin, and short, fat braids. I was fascinated with their lives for no one I knew lived like that.

I also adored fairy tales and I learned many life lessons from such tales as Henny Penny, The Little Red Hen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty. From Henny who also went by the alias of Chicken Little, I learned that there will always be someone who is the voice of doom. Folks who go around crying, oh me, oh my, the sky is falling. My cat has fleas. This acid rain is messing up my Weave. Also from Henny and her unfortunate companions I learned that taking a short cut is not always the best way to arrive at a solution.

Remember The Little Red hen, who couldn’t get any help with making bread but received lots of help to eat it?  From Red I learned that if you want something done, that you often have to do it yourself. Anyone who has a husband or children knows what I am talking about.

And what was going on with Snow White that made the seven dwarfs so happy that they sang all the way to work? Inquiring minds want to know. And was Doc really a doctor? If so, why didn’t he give Sneezy something for all that sneezing?  Even today, a woman living in the woods with seven men is enough to raise a few eyebrows. Still, from this tale I learned that it takes all kinds of people with all kinds of idiosyncrasies to make a world. And that family is not always a father, a mother and siblings, a family can consist of anyone who cares about your welfare.

Sleeping Beauty taught me if we women wait around for a prince on a white horse to whisk us away, we are in for a long wait. Today’s women also state if said Prince does come, he had better bring a big pooper scooper because we are not cleaning up after him or his steed. Clearly, life lessons can be learned from just about anything, even fairy tales.