My 5-year-old son was going through a princess phase recently and decided he wanted a Cinderella doll. I thought to myself, we do have enough trucks, dinosaurs and superheroes in this house. Why not? Deep down I was salivating at the thought of having a princess in this house where I was outnumbered by three males.

So on our next grocery shopping trip to Super Target, we went straight to the doll part of the toy section, and my first-born picked out a Cinderella doll. Not wanting to leave my 2-year-old boy out, we picked out a Snow White doll for him. Was I ever in Heaven! Two heroes from my own childhood were about to come home with me. First, we had to buy groceries. However, to get to the grocery section, we would have to pass the superhero aisle of the toy section. I was nervous. If there were any new Spiderman action figures, I was in trouble. After all, Spiderman 3 would be starting in a few weeks, and there was no way Cinderella and Snow White had a fighting chance against Spiderman and his nemesis Venom. I knew what I had to do. I would just have to take the long way around the store to get back to the food. Out of sight out of mind. I wasn’t taking any chances. Besides, I was already whistling “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Bibbidy-Bobbidi-Boo.”

Thank goodness, my boys were too occupied with their new toys to notice my shenanigans, and we made it home without a hitch. Well unless you count my 2-year-old throwing a carton of eggs into our basket as a hitch. But, that’s another story. I could not wait to see my sweet boys playing with their new princess toys.

Poor Cinderella went first. Before the boys even took their shoes off, Cinderella was lunch for Godzilla. Then she was thrown by the wayside with Snow White who never even made it near the big lizard’s mouth. And then they were never heard from again. Except on occasion when the boys are in my room and ask me why Cinderella and Snow White are sitting on my nightstand.