Guest Post – Lisa M. Gott
Once in awhile I meet another author I feel an emotional connection to, regardless that we have yet to meet in person. Author Lisa Gott is like this for me. I’d followed her for years in the Indy book world before we actually started interacting via Facebook and became real friends. She is sweet, funny and talented. She’s also extremely generous to other authors. The support she’s given me since the release of DUET FOR THREE HANDS has moved me to tears on more than one occasion. I think of her as a walking heart – the biggest heart you can imagine.
I was thrilled when the story of her romance with her now husband Buddy Gott unfolded before my eyes. So I asked her to write about how she found love after heartbreak, knowing it would inspire me to remain hopeful and I was not disappointed. For all of you with broken hearts, I hope it will inspire you as much as it did me.
I know you’ll join me in congratulating her on the release of “A THIRTY SOMETHING GIRL”.
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Our hearts are broken numerous times over the course of our lives. Sometimes by lovers, sometimes by friends, sometimes by our families. Each time, we stoop down and pick up the shattered pieces and try to make ourselves whole again. But with each fall, the remnants of our once flawless existence become more and more jagged. And we never do fit back together quite like we did before. The pain. It changes us forever.
At some point, we grow tired of putting that puzzle back together. We contemplate taking all those beautifully weathered pieces and tucking them away. Because if they are locked up, they can’t fall and break again.
I remember reaching that point. I opened the box hidden deep inside my soul, and took my heart and everything sweet, loving, and beautiful within me and dumped it inside. Locked it up. Threw away the key. Because there was no way I could pick those pieces up again. No way I could survive putting “me” back together. I was tired of being hurt.
And I “lived” that way for several years. I thought I was happy. I woke up each day and lived my life the way I wanted to. I was free to be the person I was. It was liberating. No one could hurt me, because no one could touch me.
No one could touch me…
There is nothing wrong with being on your own and being happy with who you are and where your life is. But there is something very wrong with not ever giving anyone a chance, or, at the very least, believing in the possibility. What I came to realize was that I had locked up more than my heart. I had locked up hope. To feel, really feel, joy, we must open ourselves up to the possibility of pain. We appreciate the feeling of being whole, because we know how very bad it feels to be broken.
And so I unlocked the chest and let my heart free once more. I was scared. So scared. But for the first time in a very long time, I felt alive. It took a lot of hurt and a lot of pain before life thought I was ready for the most precious and beautiful of gifts – my best friend, my soul mate, my husband.
His love has redefined everything I ever thought was wonderful in this world. His love has given every horrible experience in my life a beautiful purpose. And with each passing day, those jagged edges become less and less so.
If I had kept my heart locked up. If I had chosen to give up. I would have never experienced the most wonderful feelings in the world – to love someone more than anyone else has and feel the same kind of love given right back to me.
So the next time you stoop down to pick up the shards of your broken heart, and you feel the burn of your tears slide down your face, smile at the hope that one day someone will come along and mend you in a way even you could never mend yourself.
About the Author
Lisa M. Gott is a contemporary literary fiction author. Her stories tell of the human spirit – sometimes sad, sometimes not – most can relate to them on some level or another.
When she’s not feverishly weaving words, you can find her enjoying nature, spending time with her incredible husband, and, sometimes, sipping a latte. Okay, maybe more than sometimes.
About the Book
A Thirty-Something Girl follows the story of Hope. At the age of 30, she finds her life in utter shambles. Everything that could go wrong has – divorce, loss of a child, financial struggles. It is the love and unfettered support of her close friends who keep her from being lost in the quicksand of utter despair. As she slowly begins to wrap her head around who she is and what it means to be happy, she meets a man, Sam. Sam is also not a stranger to hardship and finds himself at his own crossroads. Together they find comfort and peace in one another; a soft, quiet place to fall, when the rest of the world is too hard and too noisy to inhabit.
A Thirty-Something Girl is a story about the power of human resilience, the importance of friendships, and the magic of true love. It is a story that teaches us (and reminds us) that happiness is actually a very simple concept: it is a choice. A choice we must remember to make each and every day.
Available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
