To You Whose Heart Has Never Been Broken

There are a lot of things you can’t do if your heart hasn’t been broken.

You can’t be a writer. A story without heartbreak is boring. Nobody wants to read about how you met the man of your dreams and lived happily ever after.

You can’t read tarot cards for the broken hearted. Who would trust a palm reader with soft hands that have never felt real pain? Or a fortune teller with a crystal ball that only held good news? How could a woman like you ever prepare someone for what is to come?

You can’t properly console the people you love. You have no idea how they feel and you probably never will. Everything you say will come out insensitive but you will still try.

You cannot raise well-rounded children. You’ll tell them how good people are and when their bike gets stolen you’ll tell them that maybe someone else really needed it. Maybe they’ll be so brainwashed, they won’t know heartbreak, either.

You will never convince anyone to believe in God, so take a tip from Walt Whitman and never argue on behalf of Him. People like you were not meant to be missionaries. You don’t have a strong testimony. They’ll say, “You are an exception. Why must some people suffer?” And you will never have an answer for that.

You can’t fall in love because; Billie Holiday sang it smooth and clear,
“you don’t know what love is until you know the meaning of the blues.” But you will rise and it will feel good up there. You’ll spend your whole life wanting everyone else to feel it, too.

People will tell you, just wait, it’s going to happen to you just like everybody else. But if you’ve made it to 27 without having your heart broken, trust me, it’s never going to happen. Some hearts don’t break. They grow bigger and bigger until one day, they explode and you have to be okay with that.