Have you ever been sitting there and the tears just come? For no earthly reason at all, your eyes well up and before you can say ‘tear’, a single one runs down your cheek.
Other times you know its coming, you can feel it because it starts in your stomach then crawls up your throat, there is a rush in your head and then your can’t see because everything is blurry.
The ugly cry is best done in private. The sounds and faces that come with the ugly cry one might want to kept hidden from the world. More often than not your face must crinkle into a scrunch before releasing those long awaited tears. Once the flow starts its hard to stop, sometimes it even begins to feel good. The release is like days, weeks or sometimes months of saved up moments of pain, hurt and emotional bruises. If you can find someone to ugly cry in front of, you have a great friend in your life.
The sudden cry only happened to me once and the details remain personal. I was with an old boyfriend, after we had broken up. The tears didn’t warn me as they usually do. They just poured out of me like a flood. There were no warning signs, no ugly face, no welling, just an open faucet of tears. I think both of us were shocked. It was the kind of cry that film directors would pay top dollar for. No change in facial expression just tears to represent deep swirling emotions that were reserved for that one moment alone. It’s the details that Kleenex commercials and romantic comedies depend on. The dramatics of my personal life had taken me there.
I have heard about the happy cry. I’m not talking about laughing so hard, that tears come down, although a moment to be relished as well. My mother has spoken of her happy tears when I was born. Not being a mother yet, I cannot fully understand what birthing a human might feel like, but I’m going to believe her that it is amazing. It’s impossible to predict when a happy cry may come. Those are the little gifts that life brings us. There are a few things that do move me to happy tears: Cute older couples holding hands, revolutionary protests, people taking a passionate stand for human rights, and of course, watching the groom watch the bride walk down the aisle. Sure, some of those are embarrassing. But at least I didn’t mention rainbows.
I would love to understand the science behind tears. They seem to span so many emotions that relate to your life experiences and the way you were wired. Who knows? Whatever the motivation or the moment, a good cry sometimes makes your feel better about what has been lingering inside. Bring on the tears.
