From the author: published in the Telenedelya magazine. Here is the unedited version. Like everyone else in my childhood, I read the fairy tale about Cinderella. I watched modern films that portrayed this truly archetypal plot, but I did not expect to meet the real Cinderella. Of course that wasn't her name. Let's call her Zlata, so as not to forget who she resembles. Zlata was not my client. She is my neighbor who periodically drops by. She moved into our house two years ago, along with her mother-in-law and her ex-husband’s child! She works as a nurse in a city clinic and earns extra money by giving massages and injections - she does this at clients’ homes. Her mother-in-law also read fairy tales as a child, and it seems her favorite character was the evil stepmother. The screams of Zlatka’s mother-in-law could be heard even in my kitchen. Zlata was required to have a sufficient amount of money, constant activities with the child and a tidy apartment. Her mother-in-law believed that she was too weak and could not even wash the dishes. I forgot to say that my daughter was 17 years old at that time; calling her the child of 29-year-old Zlata could only be a stretch. Another person, finding himself in Gold’s place, would have been indignant, called his ex-husband, handed him the reluctant mother, along with the child, closed the door and started living from scratch. But Zlata took a completely different path. She actually earned money, cleaned the apartment, and had educational conversations with her stepdaughter. And all this without complaints! Moreover, she simply glowed with happiness while talking about her life. The most important quality of Zlatino is boundless optimism. She told me what a blessing it is to live, that she has intact arms and legs, and has a profession that feeds her. That in fact, a person doesn’t need much to be happy. And if she kicks out her family, then she will be lonely, there will be no incentive to work, and she loves them. Zlata is like a battery, she does everything with great pleasure. Even when she comes to me for tea after another showdown with her mother-in-law, she glows with happiness that she and her neighbor have someone to drink tea with. Zlatka has an aura of some kind of faith in miracles, the uniqueness of life, and universal optimism. In two years, she acquired a decent number of friends, and many clients appeared at work. She spent the holidays in such a way that they were remembered for a long time. Last New Year she and her friends went to another city to celebrate. We had to spend about three hours on the road. Instead of sitting on the train, staring out the window, she and her friend hung themselves with tinsel, declared themselves the Snow Maiden, and him Father Frost, and dragged the whole company along the carriages. They came in with the text: “We ourselves are not local people, we came from distant Lapland, we congratulate you on the New Year!” At the same time they told jokes. The time on the journey flew by unnoticed, the amount of joy of all participants is impossible to measure. On that same train she met a man who, of course, turned out to be the man of her dreams. This is all Zlata. At first glance, he is a fairly ordinary, normal man, but Zlata, of course, saw a diamond in him. Now they are dating and it looks like things are heading towards marriage. But I won’t rush things. Sometimes people who have much more materially and socially than Zlata come to me for consultation. But they do not experience from their life even a hundredth part of the happiness that she has. They always expect that Santa Claus will come and bring a holiday. That someone will live their life for them. And that it would be better if they were born in another city, country or planet. What's the secret? Everything is very simple: 1. As in the song: “There is only a moment between the past and the future, it is called life.” Zlata lives Now. Not past events and not future successes. You should appreciate every moment of your life. After all, she doesn’t have drafts. 2. Love. Not sublime cinematic love, which is only somewhere far away, but human, kind, for your neighbors and yourself. 3. Creativity. Give yourself a holiday, believe me, family!