From our ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’ Series:

I came across the *photo used for this story cover. It made me wonder who lived and worked in that shop on that street… and that led to this little story for my daughters (and perhaps for others to contemplate its meaning and maybe share). If your life feels less than full… consider what the young woman in this story decided to do.

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There was a young woman who grew up in a half-sized house, lived on a half-sized street, and worked in a half-sized shop with walls painted hopeful colors.

She sat in the shop’s window each morning, watching the half-hearted people come and go.

And dreamed of a full life.

One where there were two sides and a wholeness to things. One never cut short where she had to settle for less than all of what she dreamed was in the world for her beyond the boundaries of her small existence.

So, she worked, she lived, and wondered where her life would lead if she only followed the road that seemed to lead nowhere… to see if it didn’t. What if she walked farther than she ever had before? Away from what her life was… and where she existed… to where she could be all she dreamed.

‘Enough,’ she thought one morning and stood up, walked to the door, stepped outside, turned right, and was never seen again.

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Epilogue…

A person who read this asked me: “What happened to her?”

“It’s up to the reader to determine,” I replied.

“What if it’s bad?”

“Is that what you think?” I asked them.

“She was never seen again…”

I pressed them. “Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t know. It might be.”

“Look at the context…” I suggested to them. “She was unhappy, discontented. That means she did not have enough—or any—of what made her happy. And she had seen others around her that seemed weren’t happy either. It was the same every day. Maybe not worse, but no better. So, she did what only she could do. She decided to discover what was at the end of the road that seemed to go nowhere. I think there, somewhere along that road or perhaps all the way at its end, she found happiness. And there she stayed.”

“Oh, then I like this little story.”

I smiled, knowing some people must be led to see the positive in things. And told them. “I’m glad you did.”

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*Note about the photo: I’ve found this image all over the internet (in variations) with no attribution or copyright information. I’ve used it in this educational story under the rules of Fair Use.