Three Princesses from New Jersey

This week Lily's best friend is moving to Illinois. We adore

Maddie, Caroline and Chris. It is hard to loose them geographically--but we are friends for life. The Menold's are the sort of friends that are family. They are three of the greatest people I've ever known. Lily, Maddie and Chloe are like sisters.

The top picture of Lily and Maddie was taken 2 years ago. It was the beginning stages of their friendship. I love the tiaras. It seems these two were born in tiaras, dress up clothes and with endless imaginations. The lower left photo was taken this past Sunday at Lily's 4-H horseback riding exposition. The girls always support each other in style--fancy is the dress code!

Spending time with the Lily and Maddie is like jumping back into my childhood. Chloe adores her two older sisters. I love the love between the three. It always reminds me to love my girlfriends more fully and completely.

In my Nana's spare bedroom, she had a low shelf full of children's books. I loved when I slept over and could explore all the treasures on the shelf (plus there was always some fun trinket from my Nana's travels on the upper shelves). There was one book that was personalized for me (my name was misspelled "Trisha", but I loved it anyway). The main character had my name and I loved to read it. I always felt the story was really about me and my imaginary adventures.

Lily helped me write a fairytale about the Three Princesses from New Jersey. We had a blast writing it and throwing in some personal details and memories from the past. (Like the growling, one day Maddie was upset about something and had no words and was uttering a low noise. Caroline said, "Maddie, no growling." I nearly died laughing. ) I've never written a children's story before--but I think there might be more stories about my three princesses in the future.

I added the surprise ending and gifted my three favorite girls with a special pink rock. (Read the story and you will understand. . .). Feel free to share with your favorite princesses (put their names in the story).

Three Princesses from New Jersey

by Trish Adkins

Once upon a time, in the far away kingdom of New Jersey, there were three princesses. Maddie, the oldest princess, was beautiful, brave, kind and strong--so strong she could swim across a river just like Pocahantas. Maddie also liked to live dangerously.

The middle princess was Lily, who was beautiful, brave, kind and very courageous--so courageous that she could face a very scary VooDoo man and not not even shiver or cry, just like Princess Tiana. Lily also loved to dress in disguise.

The littlest princess was Chloe, who was beautiful, brave, kind and sweet--so sweet that she could charm all the forrest animals just like Sleeping Beauty.

The three princesses were best friends. They were so close, that they were really like sisters. They loved to do everything together--pick strawberries, visit with other princesses, make new friends at Build-a-Bear, clean, cook, avoid eating, dance, put on shows and go on adventures.

One day, Princess Maddie found out that she had to move to another far away kingdom with her family. All three princesses were very sad.

“Oh Princess Maddie how will I ever keep it fancy without you?” cried Princess Lily

“Argh Faggle Babablaaaaaahhhhh,” wailed Princess Chloe.

“And who will swim across the river to get us princess dresses, tiaras and glitter glue? WHO?” added Lily, who was now so distraught that she began pulling out her fake hair.

“We will only have our mother’s cell phones and text messages. It is devastating,” moaned Princess Maddie.

“I am so sad and now, Chloe is eating my shoe!” screamed Princess Lily.

Sure enough, in her hysteria Princess Chloe was eating Lily’s shoe. Princess Lily shook her off and went to the corner to continue pulling out her pink fake hair. Princess Lily had no words. She could only growl.

“My real concern,” began Princess Maddie, “Is the kingdom. How will we ever control our mothers and make sure they don’t stop being fancy? Surely someone must be able to help. And I think I know just the person.”

“Bababa?” asked Princess Chloe, spitting out the toy she was chewing on.

Princess Lily paused from growling and hair pulling.

“We must go through the Pine Barrens and visit the Little Mermaid in Atlantic City,” exclaimed Princess Maddie.

“But the Pine Barrens are forbidden and filled with lots of spaghetti. What if we get tangled or worse--forced to eat meatballs?” asked Princess Lily.

“Lily, it is the only way. Chloe, are in you?” asked Maddie.

“Yessssss,” hummed Princess Chloe.

Lily nodded in agreement. “I will begin packing for our journey. We will need Polly Pockets, LIttlest Pet Shops and all our Build-A-Bears. Oh and footie pajamas for an entire week!” declared Lily, getting into the spirit.

The next day the three princesses set off on their adventure through the forbidden Pine Barrens and to Atlantic City. They wore footie pajamas and tiaras everyday to protect themselves from getting tangled in spaghetti. Princess Maddie swam across rivers with Lily and Chloe on her back. Princess Lily bravely guided the trio through the dark. Princess Chloe charmed the meatball trolls with a wink and a smile.

When they arrived in Atlantic City, the three Princesses were starving. So, they stopped at the Rainforest Cafe for french fries and gigantic chocolate milks. After drinking, the trio went to the beach to look for the Little Mermaid.

“I see the pink rock!” exclaimed Princess Maddie.

“YAY!!!” screamed Princess Lily doing a dance.

“WOOHOO!” agreed Princess Chloe.

The girls ran to the glittering pink rock and to the Little Mermaid, who was painting her finger nails.

“Little Mermaid!!! You have to help us!” yelled the three girls in unison.

Princess Maddie told the Little Mermaid the entire story and then got her nails painted.

While giving the girls manicures, the Little Mermaid told the princesses a similar story--about her two best mermaid friends who left Atlantic City to live in Ocean City.

“I was so sad. But, we do girls weekends all the time and we have our special pink rocks,” explained the Little Mermaid, who picked up three beautiful pink stones and handed one to each of the princesses.

“What’s this?” asked Princess Lily.

“This magic pink rock is for each of you. When you hold it, you will always be connected with your Princess sisters. It does not matter where you live or where you go, because you will always be together,” exclaimed the Little Mermaid.

“I love pink!” exclaimed Princess Maddie.

The three princesses took their magic rocks and set out on the adventure back to New Jersey. Princess Maddie went to rule a new kingdom. Each morning, in each of their kingdoms, the three princesses held their magic pink rocks and thought of each other. And they were always best friends and sisters.

The end (or really the beginning! the princesses are only nearly-6, 4 1/2 and 18 months!)