My fairy tale life... or thereabouts.

I have had a rather intense week with lots of chores around the house. The other day I started out with vacuuming and mopping the house, followed by dusting all the surfaces and ironing of the enormous pile of clothes that somehow always seem to be there no matter how often I iron. When the entire house was spotless and fresh and the laundry was neatly ironed and put away, I took out my sewing box and started mending my daughters’’ school uniforms and some other clothes. Then it struck me; I am not a Lady of Leisure, I am a middle-aged Cinderella. My castle is a newly built townhouse in a bayside suburb of Melbourne. Instead of two evil stepsisters ordering me around I have two teenage daughters who treat me like a servant most of the time. Or a diplomat and judge when I am called in to make peace or settle a matter or disagreement between the two sisters. There is a prince of course. He usually comes riding home on his white stallion - cleverly disguised as a black station wagon – around 7.30 every night, missing out on dinner with 45 minutes or so. The prince reheats the leftover dinner and usually tidy up in the kitchen. Then the prince continues with his noble quest – to solve problems, to please his customer and to keep order in his army of engineers. The two teenage daughters spend ample time on their iPads every evening, communicating with their friends over Instagram, Snapchat and Kik. Middle-aged Cinderella – that's me - is often very tired at night and goes to bed with a book, waiting for the handsome prince to keep her company in the bed. When the prince appears in the bedroom, several phone conversations, text messages and e-mails later, Cinderella is sound asleep – exhausted from all the housework and negotiations with teenagers who know everything better than their mom and are always treated unfairly.

 My life has always been kind of a fairy tale, I would say. This is just another chapter of my very own fairy tale, set in contemporary time in a faraway country. What happens in the next chapter remains to be seen. But I do hope there is some household staff included once again....