In Defense Of Crying

I cry.  A lot.  Ask my children.  I embarrass them because I cry so much.  Truly.  I don't just cry when normal people cry; I cry at strange times.  

Let me give you an example.  Today, I was reading to the kids a story about David Livingstone (you know, the missionary to Africa in the 1800's) and when it was talking about Dr. Livingstone walking into the interior of Africa and seeing the wood huts with thatched roofs I started tearing up.  Okay then, that's a little weird, huh?  Actually, it brought to mind the huts we saw in Ethiopia and the hut that Marcus & Zoe used to live in...  You get the idea.  Simple words in a book can trigger all sorts of thoughts and images in my mind and then the tears start coming.  

Truth be told, I cry (get teary) while reading history to the kids at least once a week.  It doesn't matter if we're studying Napoleon or Lewis & Clark - amazing stories make me emotional!  My kids just roll their eyes at me and wait for me to gain my composure so I can continue reading.  

It's not just history though.  Other things I cry at are commercials (and not just sappy ones either), books (I was sobbing while reading Cry, the Beloved Country), movies (even some kid's movies), sporting events, reading the newspaper,etc.  You get the picture.

Now lest you think I am an emotional basket case, I'm not.  I don't get my feelings hurt easily and I'm not overly sensitive and I'm not even sad most of the time.  I just cry almost daily.

Now, this has caused some people in my family a great deal of embarrassment (kids!), so I thought I would blog a bit on the benefits of crying.  Let's see...it keeps the tear ducts clear.  No clogged ducts here!  It is our bodies way of getting rid of those nasty stress hormones that apparently can cause all sorts of horrible illnesses and diseases and lastly, it makes you feel better.

So, I will no longer apologize when I cry while playing a board game.  Actually that's never happened....but it could :)