Who can forget their first broken heart? I certainly remember mine. I thought I would die, it hurt so badly. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? Remember that song by the Bee Gees?
Here are my broken heart highlights (lowlights?). I was 13 years old when my very first boyfriend broke up with me. Even though it wasn’t a shock, I had a bit of a head’s up, it still hurt like nobody’s business.
Although I couldn’t imagine ever getting over Chuck, life went on and I survived. If I would have known then that life comes with varying kinds of heartaches, and of many shapes and sizes, well, maybe it’s better that I didn’t know.
The passing of someone dear to your heart is one of life’s hardest obstacles to overcome. The loss of my younger brother forty-one years, the day after my youngest brother’s birthday, is still a lingering heartbreak, which I wrote about in A Tale Of Two Brothers.
Losing a friend is another path to a broken heart. I lost my friend Jan almost six years ago to breast cancer. I think of her often, especially when life gets hard. I wrote about her in Preparing To Leave.
Losing a job, or a house; or not making a grade or the team are other such losses that can cause our hearts to break. There are endless ways to cause a heart to break. Suffering an illness or becoming handicapped or incapacitated in some way is difficult indeed, to come to terms with. Life is full of happy times as well, but dealing with a tragedy or misfortune of some kind is almost a sure bet in the journey of life.
I’ve weathered many storms in my time, none of which I would have chosen. I’ve gained much wisdom and insight because of those things, and I’m sure you have too, but one of the latest broken hearts that I am dealing with is my son’s first broken heart. The matter gets a bit more complicated because the girl is my daughter’s best friend, so this girl is like a daughter to me, a close friend of our family. Another complication is the timing of it all, which is a tale best left for a future date.
Complications are a part of life too, because life can get messy. As I wade through this newest stream of thoughts and emotions, I will remember first and foremost that this too shall pass.
Life goes on and we all learn to adapt.
But this mother hurts for my son’s first broken heart is hard.
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