The Beauty in the Broken - Celebrating Cracks and Rumples

Dear Henry,

I found this cute, little mushed flower and decided it would be a work of art.

Ever since the accident, I have a soft spot in my heart for the bruised and the broken and when I realized this little flower was overlooked because it was rumpled, it broke my heart (yes, yes, I got entirely too emotional about a flower).

Because of this soft spot, I am quite drawn to the Japanese Kintsugi pottery repair method, where the pieces of broken pottery are reassembled and repaired with gold (or other precious metals) to enhance damage and to reveal the piece's history and resilience.

Kintsugi is also a philosophy, one which recognizes the history of breakage and repair is a history to be celebrated and acknowledged, not hidden.

It is difficult to do in practice though. The easiest way to wear damage is with the titles "victim" or "survivor", titles that I have never liked because those bring the focus exclusively to the damage and I will, forever, be so much more than what broke me.

However, it is exhausting to continually hide the scars and my little flower has convinced me that I shouldn't.  I may never paint them gold, but I may, occasionally, mention them.

xoxo a.d.