Patchwork Heart

 I often feel I have a "patchwork" heart, from trading little pieces of it with people who have passed away to the great beyond. But, they took a little piece of me to heaven with them,and sometimes, when I'm very still, I can feel that holy, holy love healing the stitches of the piece they gave me back. Love simply cannot be felt fully without some pain to go with it. Much like childbirth, there is terrible, terrible pain, you think you cannot survive, when you are sure at moments you are going to die, but you know, even through the mind rending pain, there is joy, and love. When we love someone so much and they leave us, especially the ones who leave us for the next world, we feel that missing piece of our heart that was once beating in sync, stumble, beat out of rhythm. It makes us breathless, and sure we cannot go on, then, suddenly, one day, we can. We can remember all the love we shared and be comforted instead of saddened. 
 There is joy, and when the "stitches" heal, there is more joy. There is love. Go ahead and let it hurt, and know at the end, there is more love, and more joy.