A lovely piece of writing by another crying mom (and novelist), Penni Russon:

"Recently you said to me “Why don’t grown ups cry? Why don’t you ever cry?”

Amazed, I said “I cry! You’ve seen me cry.”

You said, “Have I?” And again, incredulous, “Have I?“

I have sat down on the floor beside you and sobbed, from tiredness or grief or anger or hunger or because my blood burned with sugar. I have cried from hopelessness, because I am terrible at motherhood, because loving you hurts. Because I used to be one thing, and then when you were born there was a tearing, a splitting, like antarctica calving an iceberg, you split from the continent and I lost a part of myself and I must bear that loss over and over. You have borne witness to two pregnancies, and overfilled I leaked tears. You have seen me cry in public, in cities all over the world, in Paris by the Seine, in London as we crossed the street, in Helsinki, in Hong Kong. I have cried because you have used up all my oxygen with your hunger and your need and your love. I have cried because you would not sleep, would not eat, would not leave, would not stay. I have cried reading you sad stories and watching movies with you on my lap. From love and from pride, from exhaustion of feelings, I have cried."

Five things I love about Bridget, aged five.

1) The way she runs, skips, or dances nearly everywhere she goes. Half out of breath and looking at her feet she'll say to me, "just watch this mom!" as she gallops from my room to hers and back.

2) How she's so concerned about doing the right thing. In gymnastics she carefully steps into each station, trying to remember what to do; pointing her toes and looking to the teacher for a nod or a smile. And today, almost in tears she told me that Isadora seemed excited about her birthday and how she didn't mention her party (like I told her not to) but how she's worried Isadora knows about it, and that maybe she should invite her just in case.

3) How she loves her brother and has no interest in any other baby. How she talks to him with such excitement for life and has so many plans for him and her together.

4) How she laughs so hard at books and movies, and repeats all the funny lines over and over for days to follow. "Ham!"

5) How despite all the times she can be whiny and needy and sad for no reason, there are also times when she is so strong and so brave. Like when the hours count down before Mike's mom has to go to the airport and back to Vancouver. And at the dentist when the hygienist puts whizzing instruments and miniature vacuums in her mouth, and she tries out a joke with a nervous giggle. And the first night in our new house when she asked if I could cuddle with her in bed because "she felt weird" and I felt weird too, but I couldn't because Finn was crying.