Why We Cry

(First written in September 2014).

My husband and I dropped off our elder child at college on Wednesday.  August 20, 2014 will remain in my memory much like the date of his birth.  Of course, I cried.  I am still crying.  I told a coworker that I wasn't done crying yet.

My brother also saw the arrival of his first child lately.  I asked my brother and sister-in-law if they cried when my niece finally arrived.  Their answer was not just yes but, "We both bawled."

Countless parents in Wharton will cry Monday when they send their young children off to school.  Some parents might cry when they drop off their high school freshman, too.  

This morning, just two days after my son stepped into the college world I pondered what made us spontaneously cry.  Tears sprung to my eyes the second I hugged him goodbye.  Why?  After all, I will see him on Saturday.  Why in the world do we cry?

What would make a parent of the bride cry?  I can understand with ease why we cry at death, in our selfish worlds.  We will just plain miss the loved one that has passed away.  What, however, makes us cry at transitions?  Is it fear?

At 5 a.m. I lay in bed and wondered.  

I think it came to me that transitions, like birth, Kindergarten, college, and weddings seem to be occasions in which we cry the most.  It was the transition we cried over, not always the person.