Once upon a time, there was a girl. Now isn't that how all of these stories begin? Her eyes, emerald green with long tangles of auburn waves reaching down the length of her back. Sweetly innocent and charming with her naivety, she spent her days lost in vivid dreams. Longing for a love that she had only read of in her books. Oh the many books. The Happily Ever Afters and The Unrequited Tragedies, these books were her vicariously lived life. She entertained the attempts at romance of a few gentlemen callers, though none left a lasting impression on the young lady. The faults and flaws were recognized early on and the girl gracefully said her goodbyes knowing fully well in her heart that she needed more. She watched them walk away outside her window and found herself distracted by the beauty of the birds in the trees. Wings spread widely and gliding through the wind, without a care in the world, the birds flew, coming and going as they pleased, when they pleased. Over time the girl lost interest in her dreams. She tucked them tightly away and went out in the world to find something else. If the love she longed for wasn't out there, she was going to find a new kind of love. She began a journey to freedom. Like the birds outside her window she wanted to soar. Early in her journey she found a friend, a fellow flyer, looking for the same escape the gem eyed girl had been searching for. They had little to nothing in common, in fact the only thing they could agree on was the brilliance of grape jelly and of course the joy each of them found in the others company. He was tall, strong and guarded, with deep hazel eyes a person could drown in. While she was short, soft and curious. They flew together for years, disagreeing, fighting, making up, coming and going as they pleased when they pleased, but they always found their way back to one another. Learning more and more about the other and themselves upon each rising sun. Each of them found something that they had been missing, inside the other. She showed him the beauty of each day and he taught her how to take risks.Time passed and the two slowly discovered new individual passions that neither could fulfill for the other, so they took flight in opposing directions. As the seasons changed, the girl and her friend both found new mates that respectively brought each of them great joy. Retiring their wings, they decided it was time to settle into a more stable life on solid ground. A life of consistency and compromise, but something was always missing. The fire. The passion. Like magnets there was always a pull, but time got the best of each of them. Time and fear. Sifting through her old belongings, the girl stumbled upon her forgotten dreams. The dreams she had once tucked tightly away. Awakening her dreams, she realized something she didn't know she ever had. Her dreams had come true while she wasn't looking. Everything she longed for, the never-ending kind of tie to someone else that she had read about all those ages ago, she had it all. So she sought him out. Her fellow flyer. Her deep eyed dream. She found him and knew with just one look that she was right. That even though they had not been together, could not be together, they still had each others love. This is not like all the other fairy tales. No, not at all. There isn't a happy ending. No grand gesture to bring them together once and for all. They had lives now. They had people who loved them and who they loved, dearly, right back. It isn't ideal. No, not in the least bit. That wonder for what could have been will never go away. But that's the essence of life and it's beautiful. To know that you have love. Despite everything else. That never ending love... it doesn't go away.