I wonder why it is I seem to have become so emotional in my old age.

I have always been a bit of a sentimental idiot, the kind who tears up when the moving denouement takes place in the movie or when the sad song touches something deep inside me.

Lately, though, it seems as if almost everything seems to strike a chord with me. The other night I was plowing through Season Three of <a title="Boston Legal" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402711/" target="_self">"Boston Legal"</a> when I reached an episode called <a title="Son of the Defender" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977321/" target="_self">"Son Of the Defender."</a> Throughout several flashbacks, there were several haunting excerpts of music, and at the end, I heard some of the lyrics to the song.

<em>"And so it goes, and so it goes, and you're the only one who knows ..."</em>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHO6a2H-pqY

I didn't recognize the singer, but I Googled the lyrics and found that they were from a song called "And So it Goes," by Billy Joel, from 1989.

When I found the song on YouTube, I saw that there were numerous versions of it performed a capella by various groups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGS1lo_aWww

I bought the Billy Joel version on iTunes and loaded it onto my iPod. I have found myself listening to it a number of times since then, and it truly moves me.

It's a song about the hurt that we feel after failed relationships, and the courage that it takes to open up and give love another chance after being badly hurt. And it made me think about the various times my own heart has been hurt, and the time it took me to recover from those hurts.

Yes, there have been times in my life that I was in serious pain. But there have been other times at which taking a chance gave me the opportunity to feel wonderful. Maybe I am too emotional, but I can't imagine ever shutting myself off.

<em>"So I would choose to be with you, that's if the choice were mine to make. But you can make decisions too, and you can have this heart to break."</em>

I certainly hope I never find myself looking for love again. I have had love for nearly 19 years now with the woman I consider the love of my life, and I would be devastated if anything happened to take that love from me.

But I would never want to be a person who didn't need love, who closed himself off.

<em>"And so it goes ..."</em>