To Smile With A Broken Heart

There once was a little girl.
She was enthralled by the magic of life.
She found joy in the purest of things...in rainbows and butterflies and flowery weeds, in puddles and snowflakes and piles of leaves.
Her laugh was infectious and her smile so bright.
The little girl was so full of hope and joy that she couldn't contain it and was known for putting a smile on the face of every passerby.
But innocence doesn't last forever.
There came a time when the little girl was introduced to the darker side of life...the side of life where storms and danger exists.
Where butterflies don't fly and unicorns don't exist.
She ran into this new world skipping and smiling, but in this new world, her joy was not welcome.
For the first time, she saw the dark side of life.
She felt pain.
Looking around, her heart became heavy.
Her fantastic smile turned upside-down and tears like raindrops that once formed her favorite puddles fell from her now-cloudy eyes.
The little girl looked around for a way to get back to her world of innocence but innocence cannot be won back.
She was alone.
The little girl wasn't so little anymore.
The naive girl wasn't so naive anymore.
She grew up.
Soon she realized there was no going back to the way life used to be.
Her smile didn't show anymore.
Instead of skipping, she walked with her feet dragging.
Passing by a faded mirror, she didn't recognize herself anymore.
She looked older, sadder, alone.
How did this happen?
She didn't like this new girl in the mirror.
The girl realized she had to find herself again, but in a new light.
She realized now that the world is dark.
The world is painful.
The world is sad.
The world is confusing.
The world isn't fair.
How is it possible to smile in such a world?
But she tried anyway.
The girl stood in front of the mirror and watched as the corners of her mouth started to curve upwards for the first time in a long time.
It felt almost foreign and yet strangely nostalgic, like a dream almost forgotten.
She had almost forgotten how to smile, but not quite.
It took a minute but finally, there it was: her brilliant smile.
It wasn't the same smile.
You can now see pain and tears and knowledge and life behind it.
But it is a genuine smile.
Still looking in the mirror, the girl realized something.
The world is painful.
The world is sad.
The world is confusing.
The world isn't fair.
However, she could still smile.
She realized that rainbows and puddles and flowery weeds don't exist without the rain.
She realized that she could still smile through her tears.
She realized that she could still love with a broken heart.
So she did.