Kintsugi

CRASH. Oh, dear. I was a happy little bowl, so smooth and so round, until I tumbled down and broke into pieces. I felt so sad, lying there in bits on the floor. I thought I would be thrown away forever. But then, a person with very kind hands came and picked up all my pieces, one by one. They didn't use plain old glue to fix me. Instead, something magical happened. They put me back together with something sparkly and warm, like sunshine in a bottle. They told me my new name was Kintsugi. That means ‘to join with gold.’ My cracks were now filled with sparkling golden light, and I felt whole and happy again.

My story began a long, long time ago. It was in the 15th century, in a beautiful, faraway place called Japan. A very important person, like a king, broke his favorite little tea bowl. Oh, he was so sad. He sent it away to be fixed, but when it came back, it had big, chunky metal staples holding it together. It looked like it had owies, and it wasn't beautiful anymore. The important person knew there must be a better, more beautiful way. So, some very clever artists found a wonderful idea. They took special sticky sap from a tree and mixed it with shiny gold dust. They carefully painted the golden glue along all my cracks, turning my ouchies into beautiful, sparkling rivers.

My golden lines don't hide that I was broken. They show that I was loved enough to be put back together again. They make me special and unique, more beautiful than I was before. All my shiny lines sparkle when the light touches them. My story reminds everyone that things can be even more beautiful after they are mended. My shiny golden scars tell a happy story, and they shine for you.