Why Does One Cry?

Why does one cry?
What a broad and open-end question!
There are so many reasons why one allows the flow of moisture to fall from his/her eyes. To take it a step further, sometimes there is no 'allowing' necessary... tears just flow uncontrollably! It can be reasons you'd never think you'd be teary-eyed about; a movie, a memory, a statement someone makes, a story you hear or even witnessing a sorrowful situation... and on the other end of this, a moment of joy, a celebration of sort. That has been my experience recently! A moment...

One day I was watching and admiring my grandson as he was doing an 'end of the year' project. It was a large percentage of his final grade and was not just ANY project, but one in which the whole family had to take part. He chose to capture, in its habitat, the Orca Whale. The project was entitled 'All About Orcas' (Killer Whales). "Just like a boy, right"??
Well, we were all engrossed in helping him on the computer learn about the Orca whale; where it lives, it's life span, and why it is considered the 'killer whale'. As I watched him reading, jotting down notes, talking with so much enthusiasm about his subject, pasting pictures..., I caught a glimpse of another picture... a side view, a different silhouette! Not conscious of what he's doing, my grandson has a habit of sticking his tongue out on one side of his mouth when he is concentrating. Instantly, I saw his Grandpa, who did the very same thing! The tears began to flow... so uncontrollably, I had to dismiss myself.
You see, my late husband passed a few years prior to our grandson's birth. Uncannily, he was born on his Grandpa's birthday!! TEARS, TEARS and more TEARS. These were tears of joy....

God's affirmation that Grandpa or PawPaw, as he would have been dubbed, was a Part of our 'family project'.

The Tear

Don’t even know why I bother

Don’t even know why I try

Don’t even know the significance of

Why one is allowed to cry

“I am a strong individual!”

I can handle life’s infirmities

and all the pain they transcend

But the one thing

I haven’t been able to defy

is the tear… 
Its beginning

or when it ends

-Pj Payne