REAL MEN CRY

I just finished watching the Hallmark presentation of “November Christmas.” I can’t go to bed yet. My eyes are still watering. I love the Hallmark specials. They always make me cry. Real men cry. I only said that because I cry. Hallmark used to have a series a commercials (long time ago – maybe a 100 years) that made me cry. They have always been able to suck a tear out of me within 60 seconds.

I think there is nothing like a good cry. It clears the tear ducts and drains the sinus. I don’t know if they need to be cleared on a regular basis, but all I need is a tender moment. It has never taken much. I have never tried to hide my tears. They have become a badge of courage. Of course, I come by it naturally — my dad was a crier.

I do find it hard to believe how much I’m like my father. There was an extended period in my teens (those horrible obnoxious years) when I was absolutely convinced I was adopted. I saw myself as so different from the rest of them that I just have to be adopted. It’s a natural time when teens begin to pull away from out parents. I wanted to run away. But then, where would I go. I liked my bed and having food on the table.

I was not like my brothers and father. I did not repair things, building things or ever became handy with tools. U never wanted to fight and never carried brass knuckles just in case there was a great fight after school. I liked art, any kind of art. I drew and, loved clay, building things with Lincoln Logs, my Erector set, or the little tiny white blocks that that were a predecessor of Lego’s.

I did not see myself going bald like dad. My hair was too thick. Well, I have kept my hair but almost everything else is just like him. I walk with the same limp. From the back I look just like him, I’m told. My family says I laugh just like him. I’m looking more and more like him and can now see myself in him when we were both in our twenties. I am my father’s son. I’m proud to be like Dad. He was a very godly man and read the Bible through every year. I haven’t done that. I have accepted everything about being like my dad — especially the tears. I feel terrific after a great cry.