Cautionary List

Some things took decades to know:

• Hearts can split more than two.

My Captain smashed my heart and turned it into something I can no longer recognize. It made me a fool but it never made me love less.

• The greatest wings are useless in a cage.

I used to dream about some big colorful wings. Until I saw a man without hands and feet happily carrying the world. Well, maybe we don’t need wings after all.

• The lost parts of ourselves are hidden under our feet.

Some of us grew up not knowing how to reach out. They took a part of themselves to lay it on the road ahead. A “Fallback” whenever fear comes running. Good thing they stick on feet! But we need scalpels, a “flesh glue” or “flesh stitching kit”, and most probably — one another.

• An altered heart can still flow.

There is no other way but to fall for another. We can only choose how beautiful we want it to be.

• A broken heart knows a different kind of love.

Funny thing about endings. We pray for happy ones. Those that make us feel light and warm. But tragic endings that leave us broken are those that throw us something to carry for a lifetime.

• There is always a ladder inside a cage.

It is used where there is compression.

• Doors that lead us to the most wonderful experiences can’t be seen.

Somewhere along the way, we’ll meet wonder — moments when we are blissfully alone with life.

• Children can escape the biggest cage.

There is no escape, you see. But to live joyfully inside it is possible through a child — or a heart of one.

• Darkness has its way of making things beautiful.

There is darkness everywhere. If we could just be honest and admit — the best way to appreciate anyone or anything is in contrast.

• The easiest way to live is the hardest. To live like that of a heart. It has only one job — “To beat until it no longer can”

A tragedy awaits me but I can choose to love as I walk towards it.