My book Something About Nothing has been out for a few months. I felt the cover didn’t convey the heart of the book. It is a book meant to be read little by little. It is a book of my thoughts and my meanderings that I put on paper and used for my column in the Albert Lea Tribune and other Southern Minnesota newspapers. With my writing I want to leave my readers with fuel for the day, with inspiration to go on with their life and with moments that we all share in our lives that bond us together to make the world a better place. Some of the chapters are silly and some are serious. Here is one of the chapters from the book. Feel free to share and tell people there really is Something About Nothing. In the nothings we speak every day there is something in our hearts needing to be said. Oh an don’t panic if the old cover is on the print book. Amazon is working on this. There is snafu in what it is showing.

CRYING

I have writer’s block this week. There are weeks when I can think of a thousand things to write about. Ok maybe a few dozen. There are weeks when I think about those few dozen things and don’t put them to paper right away. I then forget the thousand things or few dozen things that I thought about. This happens to be one of those weeks. I think it is called old age.

Today, the only thing I can think to write about is crying because I have been crying this week. Ok, I admit it. I do cry. I have been crying this week because I have felt happy. I have been crying this week because I have felt sad and mad. I have been crying this week because I have watched tear jerker movies and cried with friends who were also sad. I have been crying this week for no reason. I have been crying this week because of injustice in this world. As you have gathered, this has been a crying week. I am not going to apologize for that. I always feel better after I cry. I feel stronger and I am always ready to move on.

Lesley Gore sang, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, I’ll cry if I want to. You would cry, too, if it happened to you.” I think we should all follow her instructions. If you want to cry, then let it all out. It is okay to cry, as long as you can quit crying at some point. If you can’t, then it is time to ask for help.

In the 50s and 60s, many artists wrote songs about crying. Some of them are: “Crying In The Rain,” “Don’t Cry For Me,” “All My Tears,” “Tears On My Pillow,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “Crying,” to name a few. We loved those songs. They put words to our feelings.

I remember someone telling me once a long time ago that crying never solved anything. I tried to follow that advice when I was younger. I remember walking down the aisle after my dad’s funeral. I had been told that I had to be strong for my mom. I was pregnant, my dad died, and I was being strong, no tears. All of a sudden, I heard someone crying. I heard someone sobbing her heart out. To my surprise, it was me. You see, I had been strong. At the most unexpected moment, the dam broke and I could not hold back my tears. It wasn’t what I planned. It wasn’t the way I chose to behave in public, it just happened beyond my control. I felt so much better afterward. I could then be strong. The advice I wish I would have received was “Cry, let it all out.” Perhaps that would have been better than scaring everyone as I walked out of church.

I know we whine a lot, at least I do. But would we possibly whine less if we could have a good cry and get it all out? A couple of movies I saw this weekend featured the main character sobbing on her friend’s shoulders. How many of us do that? When was the last time you let yourself cry with someone? It’s okay if someone calls you a crybaby. It means that you have an outlet for your emotions. Maybe if we allowed ourselves to have a good cry, we would have less anger and violence in the world. There is some part about crying that is healthy. My opinion only. I have no idea what the experts would tell you.

And for men who are reading this, it takes a strong man to show his feelings and cry. You are not weak if you cry. You are strong because you are not afraid to own what you feel.

Before I go and weep a little more, I leave you with this paragraph. Remember “It’s My Party,” so you can cry if you want to. Maybe I’ll see you “Crying In The Chapel.” If I meet you and you are “Crying In The Rain,” I will give you an umbrella and a handkerchief. “Don’t Let Your Teardrops Be Lonely.” It’s not true that if you “Cry, You’ll Cry Alone.” There might be “Tears On My Pillow” or even yours, but “As The Tears Go By,” for a while after the “Crying” there will be “No More Tears.”

“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart do not know how to laugh either.” (Author unknown