Whenever anyone mentions the name ‘Prince Charming’, an image of a tall, muscular guy with perfect hair, teeth, and eyes that can knock your socks off comes to mind. Unfortunately, that image of the amazing man sweeping us off our feet —literally— while battling a dragon at the same time usually ends up not being realistic. At least, it definitely wasn’t for me.

Once upon a time, when a freakishly tall, little girl named Lexi Sampson turned four, she entered preschool and gained her first ever crush. I’d been on the lookout since day one of crossing the threshold of my teacher’s house/school. My first ever prince charming came in the form of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy named Calvin. Don’t get him confused with Calvin and Hobbes, even though I thought a little boy playing make-believe with his stuffed tiger was pretty neat too. I knew from the moment that Calvin gave me his last oreo during snack time that we were going to get married. It didn’t matter if he didn’t have curly black locks like Aladdin or serenaded me beneath my window like Prince Florian from Snow White; I had found my prince charming.

As I grew taller throughout elementary school and everyone else didn’t, I had begun to think that I would never find anyone as good as Calvin. Unfortunately for me, braces and glasses combined with a height of 5”4 were not the boys’ first choice. Of course, I had more crushes, but none would ever be like Calvin. High school was an even bigger slap-in-the-face when I came to the final realization that I wouldn’t have my own Troy Bolton to sing with the way he did with Gabriella in all three High School Musical movies.

No matter how old we get or how many bad experiences we have with significant others, I think we will always hope for the perfect prince charming or princess, and someday we will get it. But, I also believe that in order to function in life, you don’t need always need a man or a woman. There are a lot of people who are living perfectly happy lives without a husband or wife. In fact, The Washington Post tells a story of Bella DePaulo, a social psychologist who, in just ten years, has become a leading expert on singledom. In her book “Singled Out; How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After,” she writes that, based upon a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who had been married or single for a long time were equally happy. The ones who were unhappy or unhealthy were the ones who were divorced, widowed, or cohabitating.

If you’re one of those people milling around, wondering what you’re going to do with your life if you don’t ever have a boyfriend or get married, then this message is for you. You don’t need a man or a woman to make you happy. Having a princess or prince charming can contribute to your happiness, but you can make yourself happy. If you’re still set on looking for someone, then just wait patiently. Someday, your prince will come!