Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far away from here, there lived a young princess and her royal siblings. The princess was the youngest – spirited and intelligent – and she was quite the favorite at court. She painted lovely pictures, and created fantastical stories with her stuffed animals, and even won a few prizes here and there for her spinning-straw-to-gold skills.
The king and queen, although sentimental, were pragmatic. Not wanting a dungeon full of hapless young adults lounging around throwing darts at the tapestries, they raised their children to go out into the world and seek their own fortunes. The young princess, Justine, was no different in this regard. She grew up and left the castle, and became a freelance enchantress. She was all the rage at country fairs throughout the land.
Years passed, and eventually, the king and queen died. After an appropriate period of grief, Justine (being an entrepreneur who supposedly had more flexibility with her time) was called upon to return to the castle and help settle affairs. Her elder siblings had no interest in taking over the kingdom (there was talk of a sale to an investment-savvy sultan who lived across the Seven Seas), so she was given free rein to make all decisions. Not her strong suit, but it was what it was.
As she crossed the drawbridge, Justine had no idea what was in store for her. It had been years since she’d visited, as Mom and Dad were all too happy to follow her to whatever festival or village curse she happened to be working. Entering the darkened castle, a strange sensation crept over her. Expecting to see maybe a scepter or two, some stray mead flagons and the like, she was astonished to find every room intact, with every artifact her parents ever owned.
She counted no less than 37 tiaras in her mother’s chambers, and her father’s jousting lance collection had grown considerably from what she remembered. Every closet was packed to the gills with silverware, chests of gold, bottles of fine wine, bolts of brocade, silk flower arrangements, and gifts from serfs.
Most distressing of all was her own room. Every stuffed animal was carefully arranged, enshrined around her bed. Every painting she’d ever created was stacked in the corner – it reached to the ceiling. All of her straw-spinning trophies and certificates (even the ones for participation) were stuffed into bins and boxes. To top it all off, she found a letter with the royal seal addressed to her: “Dearest Justine, we know how much our perfectly good heavy wood furniture, gilt palace decor, and memorabilia meant to you. We trust that you will be able to enjoy it all or find the best homes for…” (you can guess the rest).
“Oh my God,” Justine exclaimed, absent-mindedly dropping her wand among the jewels and outgrown gowns, “They kept everything.”
The Spell of Acquisition and Saving had fallen over her childhood home – one of the most difficult of all incantations for any self-respecting sorceress to break.
What was she to do? She was paralyzed at the thought of going through each chest and cupboard in the 4000 square foot castle (why they had never downsized was a mystery). Most of what she saw, yes, held decent memories, but had she not seen it she wouldn’t have even remembered any of it in the first place. None of it would have mattered, absent her re-entry into her parents’ home. She felt powerless. She sank to the floor, tears falling like crystal droplets to the floor…
Would she eventually find the strength to wave her wand and make it all go away?
Could she donate everything to the frog prince colony down at the river? Maybe they could make use of the velvet cushions.
Could she call upon a Fairy Godmother to drive a truck up to the back door and haul it to the kingdom landfill?
Or, there’s that anthropologically-obsessed mermaid who might come pick some stuff out…
Maybe she could just give up her wandering enchantress life and stay in the palace, wearing a different tiara every night and slowly picking through every item until she became a Mysterious Old Crone.
Perhaps a handsome prince would ride up on a white horse and…no, frankly, I don’t think he’d be much help. Let’s not go there.
How would you write the ending? What would you hope for Justine in her quest to find a solution?
The moral of the story: assumptions are dangerous. Leaving so many things behind might mean it all goes to the frogs.
First of all, this was so fun to read! So much whimsy that it made tackling a potentially heavy subject delightful.
I think, at the end of the day, the king and queen are gone and the princess gets to do what she wants. I trust that she will keep what matters most to her, offer it to the other siblings, and then move the remaining useful belongings on to people who want it.
She can appreciate the king and queen and their love, but she shouldn’t feel guilty if she doesn’t want it.
She might also take her fellow courtiers to lunch and suggest they talk with their parents about getting rid of stuff while they are still alive.
Yes, sometimes the princess just needs permission. And I’m with you on your last sentence – she could totally hit the royal motivational speaking circuit and spread her hard-won wisdom throughout the land.
LOL — sometimes the comments are the best part — “the royal motivational speaking circuit”, “Xena Worrier Princess” — I’d totally read that book! I also hope the Princess is able to sell some of those tiaras to neighboring kingdoms and donate the proceeds to a local charity.
Good thought! Of course, those tiaras are only worth something if someone actually wants to buy them. 😉
Ha ha, loved this! My family is sentimental and stuff oriented too, eeks, so it hits a bit close to home. I appreciate your creative spin and clear understanding about the deeper issues entangled in this topic.
Yes, it’s a very sensitive issue isn’t it? We have to tread carefully with family, and I think humor always helps. Thanks for commenting, Corinna!
OMG, Sara, this is freakin’ brilliant! This is the beginning of a new book, an organizer’s take on the fairy tales and fables, with time management and decluttering tips making everything vivid.
The Spell of Acquisition and Saving! That’s it! I want to buy this as a gift book for clients and friends. Write more chapters!
Oh, and obviously, Justine has to talk to her friend Xena: Worrier Princess, whose own worries about Justine’s future will lead her to the D. Clutterer, Weapon of MESS Destruction. 😉 Chapter by chapter, homes will be found, good will be better than perfect, and readers from all the kingdoms and queendoms will realize that you can’t save it all.
“Once upon a time, an organizer coach woke up every morning at dawn to write, for she suffered great writer’s block. One such day as she sat staring sadly at her MacBook, blank Evernote page pulled up, her Fairy Wordmother appeared and bestowed upon her the gift of inspiration. There was just one catch…’In order to keep the words rolling,’ her Wordmother intoned, ‘you must…’
And that, my friend, is where I will leave you hanging. I may or may not have already started something 😉, but IF I have, you’ll be receiving the first copy. Thanks for all of your kind words!
I love this. So creative. You should expand this into a children’s book. I once read a book called “They Left Us Everything”. Similar story – in it the princess quits her job and moves into the castle for 2 years to clean out the place and then puts it up for sale. I don’t want to do something like that to my kids so am starting the downsizing now.
That sounds like a book I need to read. Wow – two. whole. years. You’re so right that it’s inspiration for all of us to start unloading unnecessary things sooner rather than later. Thanks for the comment and kind words, Janet!
What a fun fairytale to read! Of course, we’ve seen this in real life…and it’s no fairytale.
I think a good ending might be that Justine finds the courage to wave her magic wand and make it all go away. However, the wand has special powers. It finds just the right “homes,” wanted homes for the things that go. Trash to the garbage bins, tiaras to the princesses in the next kingdom, furniture to the families that experienced recent flood damage, and the exceptional few items that reminded Justine of her parents and childhood.
You know how it goes. Even in a fairytale, we need to let go.
Yes, part of me wanted Justine to reach out to the Wizard of Light-a-Match to assist with the letting go, but I was already a little stretched on character development.
This is great Sara! My wish for Justine is that one stroke of her magic wand takes away all the stuff she doesn’t care about and leaves the very few meaningful treasures she loves.
Thanks, Ellen. I wonder what she would choose, out of all of that stuff?
So cute and the most accurate sentence, “they kept everythng.” how many times do we see this?
All the time, all the time. Thanks for stopping by, Amy.
I’d hope for Justine to be able to summon her siblings so they’d be able to share this enormous task together. Just because they’re not interested doesn’t mean they can’t help a sister out. Surely with their differing skill sets there’d be a magical way each one of them could help.
If that didn’t work, I’d suggest that she let down the drawbridge and open the gates to the Castle. A couple of enchanted floating neon”Free” signs and the problem would dispersed.
Sometimes siblings are helpful…sometimes, THEY want to keep everything too. 🙁 Not that they want to maintain or house the stuff, but it’s like, “What, you’re getting rid of mom’s ermine collar!? That’s the one she wore to our wedding!” It gets complicated.
But the idea of opening up the castle for a kingdom free-for-all, now that’s intriguing.