We've all heard the stories. The princess finds her prince and lives happily ever after. From childhood, girls are led to believe that you find your man and have your own happy ending. Our man will take care of us, adore us, treat us like the princesses that we are. It's no wonder that our first relationship with the opposite sex seldom lives up to the dream. Here are some suggestions for smoothing the transition from childhood dreams to reality.

I can only imagine the confusion a man must feel when he asks a woman what's wrong and between sniffles and tears, she mumbles, 'nothing'. And women, we all know what we are thinking as we say it, 'If he really loved me, he would know what is wrong.' I am as guilty as anyone, but I've come to realize that loving someone doesn't give them the power to read your mind. His simply asking you what is wrong is a sign that he cares. Ladies, if you are guilty of this one, it's time to stop putting so much pressure on your man and simply tell him. If it's something so silly, you are simply too embarrassed to tell him, (yes this happens), then say, 'I'm just being silly'. Try it, you might be surprised how much men appreciate the honesty and not having to try to guess what's wrong.

Another common problem is the old, 'honey, what are you thinking about?' He looks at you and says 'nothing'. We ask ourselves, 'Good grief, how can he be thinking of nothing? It must be something he doesn't want to tell me.' I've asked a lot of men about this one. Guess what ladies, men really can think of nothing. Don't ask me how, my mind never stops for a minute, but apparently they can empty their head of all thoughts. In any event, getting upset because you think he is hiding something from you will accomplish nothing. Chances are, he really isn't thinking about anything. Men don't think like us so it isn't the same as when we say nothing and it means something, for them, nothing is usually just that, nothing.

How often do we complain that our man isn't romantic enough or he doesn't treat you like he did when you first started dating? Those are the topics I will be discussing in Part 2 of Beyond the Happy Ending. Part 3 will cover jealousy issues. Until then, remember, 'nothing' is just a word, meaningless no matter whose mouth it comes out of.