All today, I've been feeling a bit down. Not sure why, just felt kind of hollow and sad and lethargic. Late this afternoon, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do, so I made myself a playlist of melancholy songs and lay down on my bed.

I listened to a few songs, and it was making me feel quite calm, and then I began to think of a friend that I desperately miss. I've just graduated from university, you see, a place I love more than anywhere in the world, where I've made some of the best friends I've ever had, so I've been feeling sad about all the people I won't be seeing very often any more. A memory came to me: the last time I saw this friend, where I was at the pub with some mates, and we were feeling very affectionate towards one another, and so happy to be in each other's company, but it was bittersweet because I was leaving the town in two days' time.

All of a sudden, thinking of that evening, I went from calm to overwhelmed with emotion. My face crumpled and I closed my eyes and began to sob, dryly at first and then a few seconds later, tears began to leak from my eyes and roll down my face. I did not wipe them away, but I pressed my fists into my forehead to comfort myself. I cried in little bursts; each time I remembered how much I miss my university, my bottom lip trembled and bulged downwards, and fresh tears ran down my cheeks. My sobs were quiet, as I am temporarily living with my family, and I did not wish them to hear me. After about five minutes, I grew calm again. I looked in the mirror, and saw that my face was not red, only wet with tears. I dried my eyes with a tissue. Some of the tears had dripped from my chin onto my chest, so I dabbed there too. It was an odd burst of crying, coming and going very quickly, but I felt better for it - lighter, in comparison to the heavy feeling of the rest of the day.

Now that I think of it, the friend that I was thinking of today is the same friend who was there when I had another sobbing fit, before I left university. He was walking back with me from a very alcohol-fuelled garden party, and in my very inebriated state, I became very emotional and sobbed uncontrollably all the way back to my accommodation, before crying on my boyfriend for about forty minutes. It may sound like an overreaction, but the place has been my home for three years, somewhere I have felt more accepted and able to be myself than I ever have before, and I was devastated to leave.

Well, I set out on this post with the intention of sharing my crying episodes for your enjoyment, but this has been quite cathartic! I apologise for the long post, but I think it helped me to set it out. Perhaps some of you have experienced tears (either your own or others') when leaving a place you've grown attached to, or when someone else has left?