If the Tiara Fits…

I don't remember being particularly into the princess thing when I was a little girl, but when my now-fourteen-year-old daughter was young, I totally made up for it. Snow White, Ariel, Belle...The Disney Store was my favorite place to shop, and I'd use any excuse I could think of to visit. We accumulated piles of princess dress-up clothes and Jasmine T-shirts. Our shelves were lined with Disney Princess movies and books. I told my husband they were for our daughter. But, just as much, they were for me.

I mean, let's face it. Life was no fairy tale. Laundry, cleaning toilets, mouthy kids, a stressful job, a sometimes inattentive husband, sinus infections, mortgage payments...most days, I felt more like the wicked step-mother than Cinderella.

Even then, as a young mother, there was just something magical about the thought of being a princess.

In Mind over Madi, my debut novel, Madi McCall's life is as far from a fairy tale as you can get. During a session with her therapist about some insecurity issues, her counselor insists that Madi is a princess. Madi first scoffs at the thought, but throughout the story, she tries to figure out just which Disney princess she relates to most. I had fun with the theme, and in the process learned a lot about the personalities of the Disney princesses we all know and love. Belle is a dreamer, Cinderella is positive and cheerful, Mulan is independent, Pocahontas is a free-spirit, Ariel is adventurous, Aurora is a romantic, Jasmine is headstrong, Snow White is sweet and pure.

At one point in the story, Madi's counselor explains our true princess status. She says, "What you need to realize, Madi, is that you are a princess. Whether you feel like one or not, God sees you as royalty. I like to think of it this way. Eve was the very last thing God created on earth. Therefore, the woman is the crown of creation, so to speak. A princess."

Is that a cool thought, or what?

Most of us will probably never wear glass slippers, a poufy ball gown, or a tiara. But don't you love the thought that even when we're at our worst, with dirt under our fingernails, a sink full of dishes, and whiny kids clinging to our legs we are still the daughters of the King?

We are royalty.

We are princesses.

Lynda Lee Schab got her writing start in greeting cards (Blue Mountain Arts, Dayspring) and from there went on to write articles and short stories, but her passion has always been fiction. Lynda works behind the scenes at FaithWriters.com, is a member of ACFW, a regular book reviewer for FaithfulReader.com, and the Grand Rapids Christian Fiction Examiner and the National Writing Examiner for Examiner.com. Mind Over Madi received Runner-up in the 2007 FaithWriters Page Turner contest, was a finalist in the 2007 RWA Get Your Stiletto in the Door contest, and won second place in the 2008 ACFW Genesis contest, Chick Lit category. Lynda, her husband, Rob, and their two teenagers live in Michigan.

www.LyndaSchab.com ▪ www.on-the-write-track.blogspot.com