Lemony Snicket

Crying (also called sobbing, weeping, wailing, whimpering, bawling, or blubbering) is the shedding of tears in response to an emotional state in humans. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretomotor phenomenon characterized by the shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, without any irritation of the ocular structures". A related medical term is lacrimation, which also refers to non-emotional shedding of tears.

Frequency of crying - According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, women cry on average between 30 and 64 times a year, and men cry on average between 6 and 17 times per year. Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, and women cry for about six minutes. Crying turns into sobbing for women in 65% of cases, compared to just 6% for men. Until adolescence, however, no difference between the sexes was found.

30 to 64 times a year...it feels like I've cried that in a week!

How many times I, Janet Off Kilter, have cried in the past 7 days...

1. In the washroom at my fertility clinic while peeing in a cup to be screened (again) for STIs I know I do not have, before I can proceed with my Hystero Contrast Sonography.
2. In my car after leaving my fertility clinic.
3. In the waiting room of the lab while waiting to have my blood drawn to recheck me TSH and liver enzymes while staring at pamphlets for umbilical cord blood banking and Maternal and Fetal Testing (wondering if I'll ever have to consider this).
4. At the pay station for parking at the lab upon realizing they only accept credit cards and that my credit card was in my desk at work because I had used it to order books from Amazon.
5. In my car after a stranger paid my three dollar parking fee so I could leave the lot.
6. In the shower (usually my crying haven).
7. Sunday afternoon when I got a call that I had to go to see my doctor first thing Monday morning (downtown, through construction) to review my abnormal blood results.
8. At the thought of yet more tests and obstacles in my way to becoming pregnant.
9. In my kitchen when the weight of the world felt like it was pressing down on me.
10. Over cookies...yes, over cookies. True story.

“...you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.” 

― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

Tear Drop Art Print by Hello Maupoo via Etsy