Is There Gold in Disappointment?

Disappointment might be one of the first ways that we experience innocence lost. We hope, we expect, we desire, and then--we are let down. It doesn't happen. The ice cream cone smashes on the pavement. It rains, and we can't play outside. Some disappointments sting like skinned knees. Other disappointments run deep like wounds, turn into scar tissue: the career or relationship that never went the way we wanted. How do we meet the pain of disappointment, find our way through the thicket of pain, and gather some sort of gold on the other side? References: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery Perennials Episode 67: On Disappointment and Patience Great Expectations by Charles Dickens "Unrequited" by David Whyte