I've decided I cry at weird times. When all around me at high school graduation were dissolved in tears, I stood by dry-eyed. I'm not sure I've ever cried at a funeral, or at my kids' graduations. Most notably, when I dropped two children off at the MTC on two consecutive weeks, I shed not a single tear. Either time.

But I remember when I was trying to prepare my children to attend the short opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" one Christmastime. Do you know the story? A young crippled boy and his impoverished mother give the three Wise Men a bed for the night, and when the boy offers to give his crutch as a gift for the Christ child, he miraculously walks. When I got to that part in my explanation, I just started to weep copiously. I think the children were a bit alarmed - but they sure paid attention when we got to the opera.

I had a similar experience when I was asked to read a Christmas story for a Relief Society lesson one year. It was about some children who weren't expecting any gifts, and I just started to bawl inexplicably and could not calm myself. I don't know why - I certainly wasn't remembering some poverty-stricken experience from my own life. I do remember this as being pretty embarrassing.

To go back the MTC experience, though, I have wondered if there is just something in me that doesn't like to cry "on cue." There were sniffles all over the room, sometimes downright sobs. I couldn't summon even a teardrop. But the next day, at the grocery store, when I walked past my son's favorite cereal, I fell apart. I knew I wouldn't be buying those Marshmallow Mateys for him for the next two years. My husband practically had to put me in the cart and haul me out.

So, yes, I'm an emotional person. I just never know when it's going to hit!