Call me what you like...

I adore people and relationships. In fact, I probably get way too emotionally involved and attached because sometimes I literally feel so much that my heart feels as if it is on the brink of explosion. This makes me a very compassionate, passionate, emotional and teary-eyed person. I cry at commercials that promote child sponsorship, I cry during movies, I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I don't have the words to express how I feel, I cry when I've learned a lesson the hard way, I cry when other people cry (or even when I think they are going to cry), I cry when I have to let other people go their own way, I cry when I laugh really hard, etc. (And if you ask my husband, I cry at Huggies Diaper commercials because of the cute babies)... ridiculous, I know.

Lately I have felt just how much I have invested and how emotionally involved I have been with my students from both the past and the present. One of my former students is getting married this summer. I cried when I found out because it just felt like yesterday that she was a sophomore in high school, and now she's all grown up and on the brink of starting her own little family. Each time I find out that a former student of mine has gotten engaged (just found out of another engagement today), I cry, and my heart becomes flooded with memories and emotions, thinking about how far they have come and how grateful I am that God crossed our paths.

Before my AP students took their exam and we finished off our time together, I cried because I knew that it was the last time that we would have organized class. I cried because I poured my heart and a year of my life into teaching them and preparing them for this final test, and then I had to let them go. I cried because I felt like a mother bird that was nervous about letting them "fly" on their own, yet so ridiculously proud of their accomplishments and how far they had come on our journey together.

I know, I know... call me a cry baby, call me sentimental, call my tender-hearted, call me emotional, call me overly-attached... call me what you like. Whatever you call me is okay by me because I'm happy to have a heart bursting with emotion, to know that I've invested my all, and to experience things the way that God has MADE ME to experience them. But seriously, thank God that He didn't create us all the exact same, or else we'd be drowning in our own tears. :)