1 Marriage

My father always had weird quirky phrases about life. One I remember in particular is in reference to people who make a big change in their lives. "They went to the park," my dad would always say.

I was never a fan of parks. My father helped build half of the parks in the state of Washington and I haven't even been to half of the ones he built.

However one day, I did go to a park and man did my life change. I had time to kill since I finished a company meeting with some of the shareholders of Tronix, the name of my dad's tech start up. Everyone knew I put on the suit and went to those meetings as a formality, nothing more. I have no idea how to run a company and would be happy if my dad put one of the board members in his last will and testament to take over.

So, against my better judgement, I entered a beautiful park. With a winding trail, hedges trimmed into animal shapes, and a pond where upon closer inspection was gleaming with coins.

I was about to leave. In fact, my head was immediately thinking, 'What a stupid idea, you hate the outdoors' when I spotted her.

Even though it was just your average overcast day, I saw someone underneath a tree with a crown of pine cones in her hair. She was talking excitedly and I had to inch closer to make out her words. "There was one dragon...no! Two dragons who wanted to steal the Princess's precious crown from upon her head. However, they didn't want to kill her but instead, have her give the crown willingly."

"Why would they want that mommy?" asked her little girl who looks nothing like her mom. While her mom had a crown of acorns atop her wavy black hair, her daughter had dark brown hair with curls.

The woman with the crown tapped her chin in consideration an act that almost caused me to laugh aloud. "Maybe they were completely enamoured by her personality like all of the other Princes who met the Princess was."

The little girl shook her head. "I don't buy that."

"Come on, you used to believe in magic baby, don't tell me you've stopped now." Then, the lady spread her arms wide as she exclaimed, "There's magic in the trees, the grass, the sky, the moon, and even the sun. We're surrounded by limitless wonder so much we are oblivious to it!"

"What's oblivyit?" asked her daughter.

I knew I should've just walked away, but I was so enchanted by then I wanted to hear her answer. "It's oblivious, silly. It means...it means people don't believe in wonder because it's seen everyday so it's seen as normal."

I tried to move, I really did. I felt rooted to the spot. Then the most crazy thing happened. The woman with the crown of pine cones on her head turned her face in my direction and looked at me. "Eh, hello?" she asked, startled as she pulled her daughter close to her.

"Hi, I'm sorry. I really wanted to know how the dragons got the crown off of the Princess's head." She looked even more alarmed, but this time my feet moved towards her as I stretched out my hand. "My name is Chris. What's yours?"

Her daughter chirped, "She's Princess Evaline and she only holds hands of Princes."

I frowned as I went down on one knee and pouted. "Ah, so I'm not worthy. What shall I do to prove my worth milady?" I asked the little girl.

"Take us out to eat. You can tell lots of someone by what and how they eat."

"And also how they dress...aren't you going to stain your suit mister?" asked Princess Evaline. I looked down at my knee that's currently on the grass and sat down on my butt instead.

"I have plenty of suits," I replied. I looked at what else she was wearing. "I could guess by what you're wearing Princess Evaline that you're not a huge fan of balls." She was wearing overalls already streaked with grass stains and dirt. Although the shirt she wore underneath those overalls was satin looking.

"I'll have you know Mister that I love balls. These are my work clothes as I'm a Princess that cares about being amongst my people so they see me as a friend instead of a distant royal." I put my arms up in mock surrender.

"Forgive me, forgive me I didn't mean to insult your grace. Let me treat you and your fair maiden friend to a glorious meal." The Princess looked unsure but as she looked at her daughter's puppy dog eyes, she was sold.

"Okay mister, but we're picking the venue." Turned out to be a McDonalds. I also did find out a lot about Evaline by the food she liked to eat there: chicken nuggets. We talked much more than about food. We talked for so long, her daughter got pooped out from playing with the other kids.

This is how I met the love of my life...or so I thought.