Moved to Tears

Prompted to write about a time when we were recently moved to tears by movies, songs or other artistic endeavors, I laughed to myself (as will anyone that knows me) as I thought about how it would be easier to write about the things that don’t make me cry.

I’m a cryer. About a lot of stuff.

Always have been, probably always will be. I own it. A tough workout, moving moments with the minions, memories, music that hits you just right…it can all bring on the water works. Don’t even get me started on the show Parenthood. Every. Single. Episode. Seriously. I don’t want the show to end, but I am glad this is the last season only because I won’t have to buy so much Kleenex!  Nothing like a good session of salty tears to cleanse the soul!

If I hear about a movie being a real tear-jerker, I wait until it is available on Demand to sob privately. No one needs to experience the puffy, blotchy, red-rimmed eye sore that is my face post boohoo session. A graceful cryer I am not.

Over the weekend our family participated in what we dubbed “free Saturday”. This is a Saturday where we can do whatever we want. If my son wants to be in pajamas all day and not leave the house, fine. If I want to do the same, great! If Eric needs to putter, by all means. The only stipulation is that we will eat as a family and everyone needs to go to bed at a reasonable hour. In between playing family with my daughter (which means she pats my head and pretends I’m a baby and feeds me all kinds of pretend goodies from her play kitchen for hours) I did manage to squeak in a couple of movies. And I did not expect either of them to be the cry-fests that they were.

First I watched Blended with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. (Yay! It has live people in it – nothing animated! Score!) Love their movies both together and apart and this one did not disappoint. I am often shocked at the depth to which Sandler is capable. After seeing Spanglish, I shouldn’t be surprised. I guess when I chose this movie, I was looking for light-hearted rom-com. And that it was, but it was so much more than that. I actually cried. There were parts about parenting, hence the title and the plot of blended families, that were especially poignant. I won’t give it all away, but it is worth watching. It’ll certainly make you squeeze your kids a little tighter.

Up next on the lazy day agenda was God’s Not Dead, a film based partially on recent university student lawsuits over freedom of speech/religion issues. In this particular drama, a new student is faced with the difficult task of proving the existence of God in an atheist professor’s class. If he fails, he fails the entire class as well as compromising his future. What I loved about it was the idea that you don’t have to check your intellect at the door to be a Christian. (That’s one of the main problems I’ve had with certain aspects of various religions.) There were parts that definitely made me cry in this film. And cheer. And cry again. Another one that is worth checking out.

Then there was today. Sitting on the couch, my lovely tender-hearted daughter (who most recently cried when we couldn’t keep the neighbor’s dogs when they wandered over to our house) found The Fox and the Hound. It’s been a while since I’d seen it, and was immediately drawn into the scene where the widow drops off Todd in the forest to save him from her hunter neighbor. I looked over at my daughter just then to see her bottom lip trembling and her eyes brimming with tears. (Mine were already cascading down my cheeks as I was doing the hiccup/sigh/cry thing.) I held her close and told her that is was okay that movies and things make her sad. We had a good cry and then she asked me if I would ever leave her all alone like that.

Sigh.

I assured her that I would not (could not) ever leave her like that. It made my heart hurt just to think of it. I reminded her that I love her and her daddy loves her very much. Even Jacob loves her deep down, even when it seems like he doesn’t. She smiled at that. Man, do I love these kiddos. Sure they drive us crazy. They make us so dang tired. But, I’d gladly do anything for them. Then I went on to tell her that it’s more than okay to cry. It’s good for us. That if she felt like crying – go for it. I certainly do.

While I see these traits in her, I am surprised by how it brings it home full force just how much alike we are. She is a tender-heart. She loves animals. And she will cry at movies that move her.

I wouldn’t want her any other way.