Most of the time, I try to be happy.  I think everybody does.  Either we find that’s a good way to deal with the world or we think that’s what the world wants from us.  But sometimes, happiness isn’t an appropriate choice for what’s going on in our lives.  Now a motivational speaker might say the thing to do when you’re sad is paste a smile on your face anyway.  Fake being happy until you cheer up again.  While there’s something in the “fake it till you make it” idea, I don’t believe in divorcing yourself from your real feelings.  Sometimes, the only way to deal with grief is to feel the grief.  When that happens, I reach for Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons.  It’s a guidebook for the broken heart. At first glance Caro Venable wouldn’t seem like the right kind of guide to learn about grief.  For one thing, she’s got a life most of us would kill for.  She’s got some talent, a loving spouse, a son that’s doing well and two houses, one on her very own island.  Sounds perfect right?  But Caro’s still tortured by the memory of her daughter’s death five years ago and there’s … Continue reading A Story for the Broken-Hearted