Often since I watched a friend die unexpectedly a few weeks ago. Only two hours earlier we had a wonderful conversation and I met his daughter for the first time. Later he collapsed and couldn’t be saved.
Today. I was preparing to vote, and when I saw the category “President of the United States,” I unexpectedly burst into tears. I’ve been very worried about this election, but I didn’t realize how worried until I saw the names on the ballot.
China_Guy and others carrying the burden of grief, I’m so sorry.
Tears =/= mourning and mourning =/= equal tears.
Can’t remember. At most, at times I almost feel like I MIGHT cry - when my mom died (27 yrs ago) or putting down some dogs (20 yrs>). Birth of a kid/grandkid… Maybe a tear might seep out. But full blown crying? Wonder if I ever have, since a kid at least.
I never used to cry. Then, after my wife died I found myself getting weepy over the slightest things. I’m not talking about the time I was at work listening to music and a song came up about a husband talking to his wife, and then at the last verse you find out that he’s at her grave, and I suddenly found myself crying so hard that I had to go home. I’m talking about watching TV and something sad happens to one of the characters and I find myself tearing up. (When this happens while I’m with one of my friends she looks at me and says “Are you leaking again?”)
And I should mention that I just got weepy telling that story.
This past February, my old basset hound had to be euthanized (cancer), only a month after the unexpected death of my collie, who passed the day after I returned home from a vacation. I sat in the vet’s office with her feeding her treats, and sobbed as they led her away. I couldn’t be present for it, emotionally, though I was offered.
And, yes, I’m now tearing up with the memory.
Yesterday Today.
Last time was when my sister died a month ago. I don’t normally cry, I’m full of Prozac.
Last time i remember would be 05/18/2005.
A couple of months after my brother died, i went to a John Martyn gig in Cambridge
corn exchange, and it hit me. Fortunately it was dark, so i think i got away with it !
When my dog died. Sometime early 2021. Fuck cancer.
And now remembering it.
All-out sobbing? I don’t think ever. I shed some tears over our cat who died a couple of months ago. At my age, I get weepy over car commercials, so there’s that.
I cry all the time in response to music, literature, movies.
Real-life events? Rarely. I was pretty broken up when my longtime girlfriend died suddenly years ago. I cried for months after, in private.
I recently met relatives on my father’s side of the family in the old country, none of whom I’d ever met. One lady in her 80s is the widow of a first cousin of mine who I apparently bear a strong resemblance to. She would wordlessly (she speaks no English) clasp my hands and smile beatifically into my eyes for minutes at a time, and shed a tear. I can’t imagine not responding in kind to that.
A few months back when I had my dog put to sleep.
Last time was Céline Dion singing at the Olympics. I’m not necessarily a big fan, and the tune was old and tacky, but she’s “one of us” in various ways, she’s been a part of our lives in Québec for 40 years and has gone through a lot of bad stuff this past decade.
Grief crying, I also do plenty of that. Two people I knew died in the past two months, I cried for them when I heard. I cried hard when I had to have my pony euthanized; it is harder to watch than a dog or cat because when the pentobarbital hits them they fall. Right next to the grave the tractor is waiting to push them into. God, the fall, I will never forget it.
Related for me – My dog passed away at home a month and a half ago-ish, and I’ve teared up many times since then, most recently on Wednesday, when somebody asked me about him and whether I think about him a lot. Not full-out bawling, but tears down the face, for sure. Hell, my eyes are watering now just typing this.
When my sister died a few years back.
I’m another one that tears up easily at cheap sentimentalism in movies or films. But actual crying? Losing my mother recently(ish) and a year or so before that a pet. The latter caught me by surprise, because he died on the operating table and it wasn’t until I came in later to view his body that it hit me unexpectedly.
Before that it was quite a long time. But I have a bad feeling its going to escalate in frequency as I’m getting to that age…
Today the Dallas Stars and the Florida Panthers played the second of two hockey games in Finland. There were four Panthers and three Stars who were from Finland. All seven of the Finns were on ice to start both games. Today the Star Spangled Banner was played by a Finnish violinist and it was the first time I ever thought of our anthem as “beautiful”. Then he played the Finnish anthem, and the Finnish crowd all stood and sang. Very beautiful and touching, and yes I cried.
May 10, 2022. I was at work and my smart watch was ringing to indicate that someone was trying to call me. Joan’s caregiver, as it turned out. It was too loud to have a phone conversation over an Apple Watch, so I connected and just said she’d have to text me.
Moments later the watch vibrated again and the words “Joan’s dead” came up on the screen. Cried for the entire 17-mile drive home.