Short story: The day my heart stopped beating

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but just never got around to it. This is the revised/redrafted version of a story I wrote late last year. It was inspired by the sudden appearance of a bench on a patch of grass I walk through on my way to and from the train station every day. I hope you enjoy it.

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“That was the day my heart stopped beating.”

This simple phrase grabs my attention. I had paid little notice as the woman sitting across from me, who is to me both a friend and stranger, related her life story. At least, she went on and on so much that I presumed her story could cover nothing less than the entire passage of one’s life. But now she had me; what was the day, why did her heart stop beating, and how is she still alive?

I cursed myself for not listening sooner. She had mentioned something about her past connection to the charming-yet-destitute hunk of crap just down the road that vaguely resembles a house, which I speculated will be knocked down by its new owner. But as soon as I heard those two horrible words, “I remember,” my attention politely wandered away.

For near-on five minutes now she’s been talking, but I can barely recall four minutes and fifty-five seconds of it.

On love, marriage, and Blue Valentine

My brother got married a couple of days ago. I thought it fitting to revisit something I wrote back in February about love and marriage. Jump to the end for a quick note about the contrast in my experience.

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Today I watched Blue Valentine, a film about falling in—and out of—love. It tells the highs and lows of love; the way that it can both come and go in a day, a week, a month. I was touched by the raw beauty of the couple's entanglement. It wasn't hopeful, nor cynical; just real.

It makes me wonder if true love is meant to be fast, ensnaring you just as quickly as it later releases you—only with heartfelt wonderment rather than gut-wrenching pain. Early in the film, the lead male character, Dean, states that he simply isn't going to die; the couple soon seem equally sure their love will never die. But it does—brutally, passionately, and recklessly.