Crying at airports is the new black

It's a funny thing with airports. I don't know if other people feel like that too or if I'm just a bit of a freak (you can tell me, I can take it. No, seriously.), but airports make me very emotional. I do obviously realise that the fact that airports are often the location where I have to say good-bye to someone might have something to do with it. But there must be something else. I find it very easy to cry at airports, God knows why. It's just all so sad and beautiful, like the essence of life concentrated and transformed into one big metaphor of pathways crossing, new starts, endings, love, longing, loss and all that. (I'm not kidding here, by the way, and you're more than welcome to take me seriously. I just feel like I'm coming accross all soppy and sentimental, but maybe that's just the way I am. A freak and a soppy one at that- promising combination.)

Anyway. I had to say good-bye to my mum at the airport a couple of days ago after she spent a month with me in Australia and was flying back to Europe. I'm sure you can already guess what happened. That's right, I cried like a baby. The funny thing is though, I'm completely unashamed of it. I feel like I've got the bloody right to cry at airports, if not to say the obligation. I walked to the lifts sobbing and with puffy red eyes and didn't give a damn about it. Showing emotion is cool, I say. Crying at the airport is the new black.
When I stepped into the lift, I did feel a little bit self-conscious though. Walking through the airport defiantly with tears in your eyes is ok, but being in a small confined space with a stranger while you do the sob thing is not quite as cool. Luckily, I found myself with a lady about my mum's age who sobbed a lot more than me. There was something quite comical about the situation and I almost felt like laughing. I sent her a little smile. "Hate saying good-bye." She looked at me and said: "Me too." It turned out she had just said good-bye to her husband who went to Dublin for a month. We walked to the carpark together with our puffy eyes and spoke a bit about the meaning of life. Once you cry together, you don't need to waste time doing small-talk. I got into the car and felt really alive. It's a good feeling to have people in your life that you care about enough that their departure makes you cry.

Yeah, you don't need to tell me that's kind of soppy. I know.