Love Drips Down

(taken from the internet)

You know, before kids I was fine.  Things were easy.  (I was thin.)  I could keep my house really clean.  I could keep up with laundry.  I could get a lot of work done in a day, and I didn't have my emotions leaking down my face on a daily basis.

Did I cry at sad movies?  Yes, duh.  Steel Magnolias to 'ya, but crying at any other movie or at any other time for no apparent reason?  As if.  When I was little, I remember my mom taking us to see the Muppets take Manhattan.  At the end of the movie when Kermit & Miss. Piggy get married, my mom sat in her seat & cried.  I mean boo hoo'd.  We teased her unmercifully about it for years.  Who cries at a kid's movie?  Well, apparently, my apple didn't fall far from my mom's tree.

It's gotten to the point where I can cry at the drop of a hat.  I don't mean to, I just do.  I can be in church singing a song; watching a movie, video or commercial; listening to music; or just talking to my kids.  Love, joy, heartache, and longing...emotions leaking down my face just like my mom.

I think I know why my mom cried so much.  It becomes hard to keep love bottled up once you have children.  The miracle of their very being moved the very core of me and changed me.  All reason flew out the window.  When you have a child, and you feel the love you have for them, you have a small idea of what God feels for all of us.  He loves us, mess and all.  It is truly humbling.  

I adore my crazy kids.  When things go well for them, I'll cry.  When things go badly for them, I'll cry.  I can't help it.  Like I said, it's my emotions dripping down my face.  Heaven help me once there are grandchildren; I'll be a mess.  It will be a good mess though, and I'll buy stock in Kleenex.  Until then, I'll relish every tear that drops because it means my heart is still soft and affected by love.

Celebrating life and tears,

~ashley