Summer #20: Cries like a Girl

Summer #20: I don't cry as much as I should. A therapist told me that if I'm not crying at least once a week, I need to do something that will make me cry, like watch a sad movie or a life insurance commercial (that one with the eight year-old boy waving to his father out the back window of the school bus). Apparently, crying make it less likely that a person will get depressed, and depression is a common side-effect of brain surgery.

I have cried at times after surgery. As I lay in my hospital bed after brain surgery, in order to try to get me to talk more, I guess, my second speech therapist asked me to describe the ways my life had changed after my surgery: I had been an athlete and was now unable to walk; I couldn't flush the toilet or shower on my own; I saw double and in some cases had blind spots. I didn't say any of this. I cried. That was the end of that session and the last time I saw a speech therapist.

I'm seeing a chiropractor now to help me regain some flexibility in my neck. I like him a lot. At the end of each session,  he has me visualize how my body moved and felt before surgery and imagine what it would take to move that way again. I cry each time.

I also tear up when the announcer introduces the WNBA Storm players before each game. I have no desire to be one of those players, but I feel incredible relief and joy that women can make that choice as long as they can make that team.

I prefer these tears of joy. I'll have to find that therapist and ask her if those count. Mary