02 September 2010

Beauty and the Beast





We are really into fairy tales at our house. This may be an understatement. We read fairy tales, we draw fairy tales, we act out fairy tales, we even live a fairy tale sometimes (many days I really feel like Cinderella with all my work and somedays like the Step-Mother with all my barking). Most every day we are watching the clock and the driveway for our handsome prince to come and take us away to our happily every after, usually just the backyard, but it seems much more fun when we are entertaining him rather than just each other....but I digress, back to the post.



We read multiple versions of each fairy tale and usually pick a favorite to keep as "our" telling of the story. I have only read two Beauty and the Beast stories and that is because I did not read this one first. I can't bring myself to read another one. This one is not easy to read and it is very long, we usually spend three or four days reading it, but we are never disappointed. I know the story and how it ends, yet I still cry every time I read it. Beans (aka Miss Mae, more on this later) is especially touched when I read this book. She tells me that she is not scard of the Beast anymore just sad for him. My girls always beg me to start it over again as soon as we finish, so we will take a long time to look at all of the gorgeous paintings that illustrate the book. We just finished reading this book again this week.



The Beast in this story is very mean and very scary, but the more time we spend with him, the more we see that he is really just very sad and very lonely. He has learned to be kind and loving despite his curse, but has been rejected so much because of how he looks and how he used to act that he is feels that no one will ever know the real him because no one wants to anymore. He is very hard on himself.



Luckily for the Beast he meets Beauty Fortune. He falls in love with her and eventually she grows to care for him as well, just not romantically because she is waiting for a prince to come along for her. By the time that she realizes that she does love him it may be too late.



I have been this Beast at times in my life and sometimes I still find him creeping into my thoughts from time to time. Luckily for me I have five Beauty Fortunes who love me no matter what I sound like, look like, or if I act crazy sometimes.



Families are like that though, at least they should be. A good friend of mine always tells me that "home should be the safest place for people to make mistakes." This is because it is a wonderful place to learn from mistakes without having to feel humiliated because we make them. This is my goal everyday, that my home can be a place where those who are here feel safe making mistakes and then learning from them, including myself.

5 comments:

My Heart Squared said...

For Family scriptures today we read together President Uchtdorf's April 2010 address to the Young Women of the Church. Your family would LOVE all his allusions to Fairy Tales and "happily ever after!" Mine did - and they are all boys!!! :)

Lindsey said...

AMEN to the last paragraph. I want to do that do.

Jocelyn Christensen said...

Wise words...I think I'll have to officially adapt that slogan! Thank you...what a cool tradition you have with fairy tales. They really are the best!

Montserrat said...

Ooo... I second reading Elder Uchtdorf's talk. It is amazing. I am striving for that goal too - to make my home a haven, a safe refuge for all.

Heather said...

Beautiful post, Kellie. I'm going to have to buy this book. Beauty has always been one of my very favorite fairy tales.
And Elder Uchtdorf's talk is wonderful. I'd like to use parts of his talk to create a book with photos for each one of my girls.