The Thin Line Between Heartbreak And Death

It is the legendary Celine Dion that sang about 'The Power of Love' - I'm listening to her as I write this.

Let me tell you a story about love - this will be a long one, so brace up.

Love is powerful. It is like a drug. It can make a well person sick and make a sick person well. It can break or make anyone.

I have read that a person in love feels the same way as one who has taken a drug as such when a person's heart is broken they are said to experience what is akin to drug withdrawal syndromes - protest, crying spells, anxiety, sleep disturbances (sleeping way too much or way too little), loss of appetite or binge eating, irritability and chronic loneliness.
I also read that lovers also relapse the way addicts do. That is why long after the relationship is over, events, people, places, songs associated with an ex can trigger memories.

Love is so powerful that it can make you change your priorities and daily habits to accommodate your beloved. You may do inappropriate, dangerous, or extreme things to remain in contact with or impress them - it is the power of love.

One thing about love also is that it is not something that is planned. It happens to you and I guess it's why it's termed 'falling in love' because nobody plans to fall else you would wear your safety armoury, to protect yourself.
A child who isn't being watched may fall off a bed/chair, buildings fall, planes fall, cars fall into ditches and none of these is ever planned. Falls bruise and leave scars but the thing about love is that when you fall, it catches you and holds you up. 

That's why the worst thing that can happen to a person that 'falls' in love, is to not be caught or to be let go midway - some people never recover from the scathing wounds inflicted from such a fall.

This is what happened to my friend.

I will call her Oma for the purpose of this post. Oma and I lost contact for a while and when we met again, as expected we recalled all that had happened while we were apart. That was when my very dear friend shared her story with me.

Oma was very happy living her life when she met Theo (not his real name either).
He came into Oma's life like a hurricane and everyone decided this had to be it. Theo proposed after a few months, they had the introduction ceremony done, started with plans for their wedding and all was well until he started changing. Theo stopped taking Oma's calls and messages for a while and found reasons to evade her. After about 2 weeks calling him persistently, he dropped the bomb - he couldn't continue with the wedding plans anymore as he didn't want the marriage.
Oma cried, pleaded and apologised even though she didn't know what was wrong but Theo stood his ground.

That was the beginning of the end for Oma my dear friend.
She cried for weeks, cut off everyone, did so badly at work that she was asked to take sometime off. She would stay in her room, refused to eat, left her hair undone and was just a shadow of herself. Few days after she returned to work, she was sacked for non-performance/negligence.

This made things worse.

Her mum cried and watched helplessly as Oma slipped away - the heart break and humiliation had broken her. Days turned into weeks and months and her birthday came.

On the eve of her birthday her mum walked into her room, sat on the bed, held her hand and told her she was happy to just have her alive. She went on to remind her that if Theo walked, someone who would love her more than she ever imagined would come and reminded that her family still loved her. 

After the talk her mum prayed with her, recalled fond memories from her childhood, wished her a happy birthday and left. What her mum didn't know is that Oma had decided to commit suicide and the drugs she bought were under her pillow.

She had planned to end it all on her birthday.

As her mum walked out, Oma cried and for the first time in months she prayed. She prayed for strength as she thought she couldn't go on anymore.
The next morning, she woke up with renewed strength and for the first time in months she wore makeup and dressed up. She treated herself to breakfast at a nice restaurant, went to the salon to have her hair and nails done and proceeded to the Cinema where she saw two movies.
She returned home late in the evening and joined the rest of the family for dinner - everyone was surprised but kept quiet. 

Oma began to live again.

She said her mum's words gave her strength as she realized her family would be heartbroken and distraught if she took her life and so she decided to just try - again.

She is married now to man that unashamedly worships the ground she walks on and her mother still doesn't know that she was close to committing suicide.
Weeks to her wedding Theo called to apologize. He said he didn't know what came over him and asked that they work things out again. Can you imagine? 

This story tells us how love can make or break. Oma's world fell apart when the one she loved walked away but it came back together when the one who loved her refused to let go. 

Love lifted her.

I shared this story for three reasons:
1. Love is beautiful and never fails. It is people that abuse love.
2. If you feel broken right now remember that life is still worth living and there's so much more ahead - if you dare to hold on and try again.
3. Someone close to you may be close to ending it all, be sensitive and be there for them.

It's a thin line between heartbreak and death but it's still a line that you do not have to cross.

Remember that love never fails, it is people who do.