The older I get the more I seem to cry very easily. Commercials, animal videos, sad stories, happy stories, quiet times, hectic times, geez. I’m such a girl. Sometimes I can’t even watch a commercial for the emotional toll it would take. For instance, the commercials from the ASPCA showing the dogs in cages that need homes. The minute I hear the music on the TV for that commercial, I change the channel. Who wants to see that? I even have my husband trained to change the channel the minute the music starts to play. Hallmark greeting card commercials tear me up. The new Budweiser puppy commercial is the latest commercial to “get me choked up”.

My favorite movies are romantic comedies. Those are always tear jerkers for me. In You Got Mail, when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan meet in that park and she realizes he is the guy she has been talking to via email, my heart swells and I get teary. In the movie, He’s just not that into you”, when Ben Affleck gets down on one knee to ask Jennifer Anniston to marry him, again heart swells and I get teary. Basically any time I watch something and a girl is getting proposed to, it gets me right in the tear ducts. Why is that?

Now I have always been very sensitive to all things dog and mom/child oriented, but lately I have come to the realization that I am a bit more emotional than I used to be. Things touch me more than they used to. Is it my lack of hormones? Maybe. Does it bother me that I am more emotional? Not really but it is something that I seem to be more aware of. I have actually given it quite a bit of thought lately and earlier this week as my husband and I were driving down the road, it hit me. I am more emotional now because I can be. I don’t have to hold my emotions in. I don’t have to be strong all the time. I can let go and feel what I feel. It is wonderful.

For most of my adult life I have been the one to do everything. During both of my failed marriages I had to hold it together or lose my sanity. I had to take care of everything. Stay tough, stay strong or fall apart. I couldn’t fall apart. I had these two wonderful children that I had to be a rock for. I was it. I was the person they counted on every day for every thing. I was not going to let them down as I had to be “super mom”.

It is wonderful knowing that I no longer need to walk through my life alone and handle everything all by myself. I can share my thoughts and feelings. I can ask for help with something. I can refuse to do something if I don’t want to. I thank God every day for my partner in life, my husband, who allows me to be the real me every day, emotions and all.