Disney Got It Wrong

"Disney Got It Wrong"—Posted by Belle Tynan to Mom Said A No-No

You know that rom-com scenario that begins with lingering stares from across a crowded room? The ones that eventually lead to one or the other person involved sauntering through the crowd to deliver some completely cheesy but utterly perfect opening line?

Yeah, those ones.

They all seem to follow the same carefully formulated set of rules, don't they?

Long and meaningful conversation ensues as depicted through a time lapse segment over drinks and laughter until long after the bulk of the crowd has dispersed. The end result isn't a casual and meaningless hookup but an exchange of numbers and the long string of perfect dates that culminate in a happy relationship.

Fast forward a few years down the road to that same couple as they depart the reception of their wedding for the honeymoon. Another year later they welcome a beautiful baby girl with her mother's nose and her father's eyes. They have a dog and a house with a two-car garage that actually has two cars in it. Mom has a successful blog she writes weekly that allows her to be at home with her daughter. Dad is an American hero, a soldier who bravely fought for his country and made it home to tell the tale.

Yadda, yadda, so on and so forth, etcetera, etcetera...

Unfortunately, it never really quite goes that way apart from the movies. A girl never really gets her perfect knight in shining armor. And no one really lives happily ever after.

Thank you, life, for being such a female mutt. And thank you, Disney, for those completely unrealistic notions of love.

Disney never really tells you about all the bumps in the road. Animals don't really talk—not English anyway—and fairy godmothers don't exist unless you believe in angels of the guardian variety and happen to have some top secret intel pertaining to the gender of yours. In which case, I would very much like you to introduce me to your sources.

The writer of that rom-com never goes on to tell you that Dad's military career sees him shipped overseas for a tour that leaves him psychologically wounded. It doesn't tell you that his guilt or anger or whatever it is that's really eating away at him drives him to volunteer for a second tour that he doesn't come home from. They never tell you about the heartache and the grief and the hardship Mom has to face or just what a gut wrenching moment it is when she has to explain to her daughter that Daddy isn't coming back home.

They don't describe Mom's reasons for ignoring obvious red flags to marry again because she's lonely and being a single mom is hard. And they certainly don't tell you about those cases when the second marriage fails because hasty husband number two developed a drug problem and became abusive which led to a nasty divorce.

And what's the end result of all those unforetold bumps in the road?

Mom is a single mom again. Not to one child, but two. Yes, she was dumb enough to bring a second child into the world with a man who she already knew wasn't going to be the husband or father that she and her children deserved. So why did she do it?

Loneliness? Desperation to fill the void in her heart left behind by her first husband; her first choice; her first Disney-worthy love?

The truth: hell, I don't know. Ask that deceitful bastard of a rom-com writer.