As every romance writer knows, it's not the beginning or the ending of the book that is the hardest, it's the middle. Much like life, I believe. We can't always control the beginning, the ending can come with surprise, but the middle is what counts.
In trying to come up with a title for this brand-spanking new blog, I tossed out a number of options (including some terrible ones like "Jeannie's Nifty Blog") until I finally heard a new song by Sugarland, called Happy Endings. (The lyrics of which I will share here with you.) It made me realize how much of life is about looking for happy endings. And yet, because you don't know if the end was happy until you get TO the end, life is really all about the middle.
It's about working your way to be as happy as you can be. And here are the lyrics to the song that inspired me: Happy Ending by Sugarland
Cowboys ride into sunsets
The good guy always gets the girl
Cinderella has just fit
The glass slipper that changed her world
We all know the stories
We all know the fairy tales
We all get the glory
Of making it for ourselves
From the beginning
We're all looking for a happy ending
Every dream of winning
Every love we've been in
Right from the beginning
We're looking for a happy ending
We come here with nothing
And take it with us the day we leave
The first and last breath don't matter
It's all the ones are that in between
It's the reason for living
It's the reason the caged bird sings
It's why we sit in the movies
All the way to the closing scene
And for all those dreamers who have come and gone
Who have reached for the stars who have overcome
You're the hope, you're the wish, you're the truth
Baby here's the proof
Baby's born in the ghetto
Baby's born with a silver spoon
One tells his mama, "I have a dream"
One tells his mama, "I'll walk the moon."