Today, having finished most of my writing, I sat down to watch the end of the movie with her. Snow White had just awoken, having experienced true love's first kiss, and was perched upon the proverbial white horse. One by one, Prince Charming was lifting the eccentric old men to Snow White's lips for a goodbye kiss, as she trilled in her seemingly 12 year old voice, "Goodbye! Goodbye!"

Softly, Ava began to say the words herself. With each farewell, her bottom lip stuck out further and a quiver began to plague her little voice. Tears started to stream down her face as the lovestruck duo rode into the sunset, and she buried herself against me, crying hard.

At first, I laughed. "Silly duck," I said. "It's a happy ending! They live happily ever after!"

She settled down as I distracted her with her own shiny, plastic tiara, but I couldn't stop chuckling. That is, until I started to think about this so-called "fairy tale ending." Here was a woman who had made deep connections with a group of strangers very different from herself, forming friendships in the most unlikely of places. However, when tall and handsome shows up with his sexy steed, she up and leaves her friends in the lurch, off to supposedly greener pastures.

Suddenly, I was beginning to understand Ava's tears. It was very sad, actually. Defining your life by your relationship status, treating your friends as your last priority, making rash decisions about the rest of your life... no good.

Perhaps Ava has a point. Maybe it's important that we, as working mothers and freelancing writers, take time to make sure we aren't chasing that elusive fairy tale ending at the cost of our relationships and families. It's easy to get caught up in your work, or in the pursuit of your next big break. However, it is incredibly important to make sure you're balancing your fairy tale dreaming with the people you care about. They're the ones who provide the encouragement and support that make it all possible. From the mouths- or, er, behavior- of babes, eh?

*Photo of Ava, credit goes to Carrie Guggenmos