Saturday, August 18, 2007

I'm Sick of Being a Cry Baby

How is it that movies make me bawl? How is it that even movies I've seen a million and one times are able to reduce me to a sobbing, sniffling mess? It'd be nice to watch 'Father of the Bride' once, and not fall apart every time he looks at his daughter and remembers how they used to play basketball together... It'd be nice to watch 'High School Musical' with Jacob, and not dissolve into tears when Troy and Gabriella make up... It'd be super nice to watch 'Bridge to Terabithia', and not scare my son and neighbors with my loud, heart wrenching wails when Jesse finds out that Leslie died...

You know what? If it was just movies, I'd be okay... I'd be fine. But it doesn't stop there, does it? I even manage somehow to cry when I listen to certain songs... Celine Dion's 'First time I Ever Saw Your Face' causes me to tear up and sniffle every single time I hear it... Listening to 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire' audio book at work the other day, I had to pretend a bug flew in my eyes because I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down when Mrs. Weasly hugged Harry after the whole ordeal... Being that the windows in the building don't even open, I don't think my co-workers believed the bug story... Listening to Sade, listening to Charlotte Church... Yup... Lots more too..

Books? Oh yes.. You bet. The Kite Runner reduced me to a weeping, slobbering idiot.. As did 'Good in Bed', 'A Thousand Splendid Suns', and pretty much every book with depth... Commercials.. Ah... Let's not forget those... Wouldn't want to count them out... The jewelry commercials where the guy puts the glittering diamond necklace on his wife while she's asleep? Yep.. I tear up each time. The Sylvan Education Institute commercial where the mom finds out her son's grades improved drastically? That scene she sees his grades for the first time and tears up? Ah.. Well, I'm bawling too.. It's quite bad really...

So what's wrong with me? I mean, I KNOW they're acting. I KNOW Steve Martin isn't really that little girl's daddy, and he didn't really teach her to play basketball... I know its all make believe.. I know none of it is real... I know all involved are getting paid copious amounts of money to act out the emotions they convey oh so well, so WHY am I unable to control myself???!!! How (and when) did I become this human faucet?! .. I try so hard sometimes too... I do. I sit there and tell myself over and over that I won't cry. I grit my teeth, cross my arms, and try to summon every ounce of indifference that I can... Nah.. never works... I feel the tears prickling at the back of my eyes... I feel my lips start to quiver... My nose starts to run... The battle's lost before it even begun. *sigh*... I'm sick of being a cry baby.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It just shows you're a feeling person inside. You can fool others with a tough exterior, but you can't fool yourself.
I'm a touger person physically than anyone I know, but it felt like I was swallowing water-balloons watching "the Rookie" the other day.
You so ruined the ending for Terabithia for me!

There was a movie way back with Christian Slater and Marissa Tomei, I forget the name.(Has "Heart" in the title).
Wrecks me every time.


Your writing style is just amazing. I think you should seriously consider penning a book. Your detail, imagination, descriptiveness, and overall writing talent is exceptionally rare.
I would definitely buy the first copy!

Idemili said...

Have you always been a cry baby? If it's a recent occurrence you might want to look into it.

Anonymous said...

It shows you are compassionate. Keep crying. The day you stop is the day you become hardened.

Ah, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Roberta Flack's rendition is perhaps the most famous, but the original, by the man who wrote it - Gordon Lightfoot - is my favourite. It is different and you might not even recognize it. But it will still bring a tear to your eye . . .

monie said...

@ Tim: First off, I'm sorry for ruining the end of Terabithia for you... I wasn't thinking about others who hadn't seen it yet... Sorry. :-(
It's a good movie though, you should still see it.. :-)

Thank you for the compliments! Yay. :-) Very nice. Be careful what you say though; I won't hesitate to hunt you down and thrust a copy of my book in your face if ever I get published! Ha! :-)

@ Idemili: *sigh*... I've always been like this. For as long as I can remember. I can't help it. I'm not sad, I don't think... Just emotional, I guess... Everyone really close to me is used to it by now. My tears are hardly even acknowledged anymore. Once in a while, I'll get an irritated "Can you cry quietly?!" yelled at me from across the room.

Even my beloved son is used to it. Case in point: Tonight, we were both watching High School Musical 2. It was his bedtime movie so he was watching it in his room, and I was in the living room - Um, don't ask why I was watching High School Musical when I didn't have to... I don't know. *Defensive Scowl*.lol. Anyway, in the final scene when Troy and Gabriella start singing, I hear my son yell from his room: "Should I get you the tissues mommy?"... He couldn't even see me and he knew I'd probably be bawling... I was. lol.


@ Patrice: How about that? All this while, I thought Roberta Flack sang that song originally. All this while! Well, thanks for enlightening me, I will be downloading Gordon Lightfoot's version as soon as I'm done with this comment. :-) It's an awesome song though, isn't it...? The meaning behind the words just get to me every.single.time... To feel that powerfully about a person... *sigh*...

Thanks for the comment.. :-)

Idemili said...

Hahhaahahah! That story was so funny Monie! Your son is smart.

An-Igbo-Dude said...

i used to think only ladies were cry babies when it came to movies, that was until i saw blood diamond and di caprio was dying. i cant really say i cried but chweety was crying during that scene and i dont know if it was cos she was crying or cos the scene was touchy. still cant tell

Anonymous said...

Whoops, I commented earlier today on the wrong post.

I stand corrected, Gordon Lightfoot did not write The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, although he did record an early version of it. I learned today that Ewan MacColl wrote the song.

I hope no one bet the house on my mistake.