Cry Baby

The older I get, the more I realize I'm a huge wuss. When I was younger, I used to think I was so strong. I never cried at anything, or at least not the right things. Sad movies, terrible events... these things stirred my heart, but never seemed to move me to tears. Instead, it seems, tears always formed for the wrong reasons: when I yawned, when I was nervous. I honestly always figured that it was because of this tear duct surgery I'd had as an infant. I just figured I was wired wrong. Boy was I wrong! Now it takes just a fleeting thought of something terrible to send me into waterworks! Or, you know, a sports movie of some kind (Rudy, anyone?).

Take tonight for instance, I awwww-ed at an episode of The Middle, and I fought the urge to cry something like five times during the Obama speech at the memorial for the Tuscon shooting victims. Then I was talking to A.P. about the shooting, and he hadn't even heard about it (we've both had our head in the clouds a bit lately with the overwhelming amount of work we've had to do). Anyway, I was reading him articles detailing what had happened, and I must have teared up at least twice!

When did I become such a huge wuss? While I wish I didn't tear up or cry so much (a few months back, I teared up at a commercial on TV...A COMMERCIAL!), I'd like to think that the reason I cry so much now versus when I was younger is that I understand now how much more precious life is, and how truly lucky I am that I am healthy, and have a loving family, and that my bad shit is mostly manageable. Still...I'd prefer less tears.

What makes you guys cry?