The End

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Ellen. She lived in the great white North of Michigan. She dreamed of growing up to be a single, independent, woman who traveled the world and lived an utterly fabulous life. The End.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Ellen. With a college degree under her belt, she got a job that paid just over peanuts and traveled the world collecting fossils. She met a penniless graduate student, married him within a year, and moved to the less than fabulous state of Georgia. The End.

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Ellen. One day she woke to find herself married with two children, a mortgage, and a minivan. Her days were spent with laundry and diapers and temper tantrums. Her vacations were spent traveling to and from her parents or in-laws with two, understandably, cranky and overtired children. In the midst of these--what some might call excruciating--journeys she would find herself glancing at her husband, bent over the steering wheel, pressed to get his family home, and she would wonder at how lucky she was to have a mate, the love of her life, beside her for every mile of every trip, every important moment of her life. While she listened to her children crab at each other in the backseat, she would reach for her husband's hand and think "what an utterly fabulous life". The End.

......

And so ends NaBloPoMo. I did it. The End.