Grande

I'm a big fan of driving and crying.  Not to be confused with Drivin' N Cryin - southern rock band from Atlanta.

But sometimes, on a long drive, I get melancholy and I just get it out of my system.  Women cry, on average, 5.3 times a month. Men cry an average of 1.3 times a month - though - they define it as anything from eyes filling with tears to actual sobbing.  I looked it up online.

Sunday was one of those "get it out of my system" days.  It was stress, frustration, uncertainty, fatigue, and more fatigue related.  

Sunday night, I fell asleep quickly, and by Monday AM, all was right with the world.

I was told, by my husband that my feelings Sunday seemed "big".  Which makes me sound like a toddler and not a grown woman.  Sometimes, that's fair.  I would say that most of the men I dated had big toddler energy from time to time - my husband included.

Whenever I see a child having a total meltdown at the airport, for example, I always think - that kid is the most honest person here.  Once, I saw a grown man have a full-blown panic attack at the Walmart during the Christmas holiday season.  I thought it was pretty reasonable of him.

On the other hand, I once saw a grown man, in a moment of extreme duress throwing his suitcase at a wall in the airport.  He wisely got the luggage and left.  He was trying to get on a flight to make it to his daughter who was ill and having surgery the next morning.  As empathetic as I am, you have to keep it together sometimes for the greater good.  

My husband reminded me this weekend that once upon a time, I invoked my father's unstable health to get out of a speeding ticket.  Look, you don't ask, you don't get.  He was, in fact, really sick.  I had been down in ATL while he got a bypass, and I was under tremendous stress, heading back to Nashville.  I had totally forgotten about this story.  But I can remember the guy throwing a suitcase at a wall in Springfield, IL.  Point being, it's easier to remark on the bad behavior of others.  

So, sure, I had big feelings.  But to be fair, my husband gets big feelings too - I just don't typically point it out to him.  Maybe I ought to.  

There is a piece of therapeutic advice about feelings - "You have to name it to tame it" - meaning that you have to be in touch with your inner workings.  As a teen/twentysomething, I struggled with not realizing something pissed me off until after it was too late to say anything.  Often, I'd say something anyway and end up looking unhinged.  As I got older, I got better and voicing contentious feelings in a timelier manner.  I'm still working away at it.

Or, like the Book of Mormon musical suggested - "Don't feel those feelings, hold them in, instead."

ae