After my heart was crushed, can I ever love again?

Once upon a time there was a lovely lady who lived in a dark room. Once, years and years ago, she had fallen from a carriage driven at great speed by somebody she loved and for ever after that lost the use of her legs.

So she stayed in her lonely room, gazing fixedly at the locked door in front of her, never needing any sustenance except the pain in her heart.

It kept her going, you see, like a hamster captive in a wheel.

One day she felt a draught at her neck and thought her room seemed lighter. She also heard strange sounds. Slowly and painfully she turned her head (she wasn’t used to moving) and saw to her amazement that there had always been a sash window in the wall behind.

It was open — just a small way. She could hear birdsong and smell sweet perfume, like roses, or lilies. And just then a bee buzzed its way under the sash and walked along the sill, its delicate wings glittering in the light.

But our lady was terrified. The bee might sting her! And she had once read you could catch horrible diseases from birds.

And she knew that if you scratched yourself on a rose thorn and it went septic, you could die.

She tried not to inhale the scented air that flowed into the room because you could get asthma and hay fever all at once from flowers and grass.

Oh, there was so much danger in that garden outside.

not to mention ugly things like toads and beetles and grass snakes that might be lurking in the undergrowth.

no, she thought, I will not look. I will not smell.

I will not listen to birds and bees. I will not feel grass beneath my feet or taste freedom from this room. It’s just not safe.

And so she turned back sadly and went on staring at the locked door ahead of her.

So consumed by fear and anger and sadness that one day there was nothing left of her but a fragile husk, left behind on a chair.

nO! I refuse that scenario. I will rewrite it and have my lady jump up in excitement, realise with delight

her legs work perfectly, run to the window, throw up the sash, fling herself over the windowsill — and break free.

All the world is waiting for her, if she will just accept this chance.

And my scenario will be made into a beautiful film with such a happy ending, where the heroine takes baby steps towards a new love, in a new life, in a new world, full of the joys of spring.

Now is the time to blossom. Right now when the daffodils are blessing us, even if in places they poke their brave, golden heads though snow.

Now, when the birds are all building nests and Mr and Mrs Duck on our river look like getting busy — even if otter and fox will threaten their ducklings. Now when it is Easter — a time of renewal and light after darkness.

Get to know your man, Mimi Open your heart and take a chance.