Time to Love Again

Affection, a strong feeling that has the capacity to uplift or depress us. For far too long, Sarah's experience had been the latter. She had vowed never to expose herself to that type of suffering ever again after her heart had been broken into a million pieces. However, life has an odd habit of surprising us with unexpected turns of events. Sarah had been divorced for five long years. She spent five years isolating herself, concentrating only on her work, and erecting walls so high she was certain no one could ever reach them again. Sarah had developed a skill at shooing away well-intentioned friends and family members who sought to put her up on blind dates and urged her to "get back out there." Their entreaties were met with silence since Sarah was happy to be alone, or so she told herself. A part of her longed for that intimacy, that connection she had once had with her ex-husband, deep down. However, the prospect of going through that kind of heartbreak once more paralyzed me. Persuaded that this was her new normal, she carried on, day after day, losing herself in spreadsheets and office politics. Up until the day she practically ran into Jack, the high school boy with whom she had first kissed. The same Jack who vanished from her life shortly after graduating and relocated across the nation. Now, twenty years later, there he was, perfectly attractive as ever, standing in front of her. Sarah was completely unprepared for the encounter, which left her speechless. In a moment, all the painstaking barriers she had erected over the years came crumbling down. She was suddenly filled with butterflies again, ones she had long since forgotten, fluttering furiously in the pit of her stomach. Unquestionably, there was a spark that she had not felt in a long time.