I don’t think I’m a completely unstable person. My husband might tell you differently, but since I’m the one writing…Anyway. I’m really not a basketcase. I am, however, a crybaby. So when I realized how long it had been since I gave you a list of the week, I thought I’d tell you about some of the things that make me cry.

Plus, I tried and tried to put together a 4th of July post, and it just didn’t happen. The last thing on my list is where I started – and where I ended. I just couldn’t get past my emotions for that post. So okay, maybe I am a tad bit over the edge. But really, doesn’t anyone else cry at any of these things? (Or maybe even something else? Like Hallmark commercials or something?)

Good worship music – This usually happens at church or in my car. I’m so affected by music that God speaks to me so clearly with it. It can be convicting, overwhelming or encouraging – no matter, it can make me cry.

TV series finales – I have a slight addiction to finales. I don’t know what it is that makes me tune in every time, but I do. Even if I don’t normally watch a show, if I hear that the final show is coming up, I’ll watch it! I started watching Friends when it was announced they were doing the last season. (Turns out it was not, in fact, the last season, but I watched from then until the end the next year. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode since, thanks to reruns.) It doesn’t even have to be a series finale. I watched Michael J. Fox’s last episode of “Spin City“. I hadn’t watched the show in a few years, but I watched that episode. And bawled like a baby.

Weddings – I’m sitting here watching a wedding show on TLC and got teared up. And as I stood at the front of the sanctuary for my brother’s wedding and watched my strong and beautiful sister-in-law walk down the aisle by herself, I kid you not, I had a hiccup sob. I couldn’t keep it in! So it doesn’t matter if it’s my friend’s second wedding that I wrote about earlier or two strangers I’ve never met or even two fictional characters, if it’s a sweet or poignant or wonderful wedding, I will cry.

Abused, sick or neglected animals, children or old people – There is a commercial on TV right now; I think it’s for the ASPCA. It shows dog after cat after cat after dog – all of them somehow managing to look sadly into the camera – all to a mournful Sarah McLaughlin song. And it is the longest commercial ev-er. I have to change the channel every time it comes on. I just cannot handle it. Something else I can’t handle? The grandma scenes in Happy Gilmore. I know – that is not a sad movie. But seeing that little grandmother get treated so badly – even if it’s by a ridiculous Ben Stiller character – just hurts my heart. Not because I think it’s real, but because I’m sure things like that happen in real life! And don’t even get me started about sick kids. After working for a health charity, I know too many stories to take any child’s situation lightly.

My daughter – I’ve cried over her first laugh, looking at her face when she sleeps, thinking about how many things could go wrong in her life, thanking God for all the things that have already gone right, and in desperation when I couldn’t stop her from crying. And I have a feeling there will be many more tears over my little sweet pea!

Inspiring sports movies – I’m not an athlete. As a matter of fact, I don’t really enjoy sports much at all. And I will admit that I’ve cried due to failing at sports in the past. That should really make me hate sports. But the cliched scene of the underdog managing a victory in the last few seconds of the game – well, it gets me every time. You know the stories I’m talking about: Radio, We Are Marshall, Glory Road, Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, even Friday Night Lights. Like I said, I don’t really like sports. But I seem to love their movies. (And this video? Bring on the Kleenex!)

Is There Life Out There – Reba McEntire’s video for this song makes me cry every time I see it. She plays a wife and mother who goes back to school to get her college degree. And that’s exactly what my mom did 20 years ago. Each time Reba says, “I learned more from the stain than I did the paper,” I break down, thinking of how hard my mom worked, all the sacrifices our family made, and how proud of her I am.

Our military and the war – My grandad was in the Army, so I was raised with a deep respect for our country, our flag and our military. With everything that’s gone on in our nation the past seven years, that feeling has only grown. No matter what you believe about our leaders and their strategies and choices, the men and women who risk and sometimes sacrifice their lives for us are heroes. Plain and simple. And that’s why I cry when I hear patriotic country songs (this one caused a breakdown in my car), read military-themed books (sobbing on my couch), watch TV shows about the Army (sniffling every Monday night), or look through Mad Dog’s Iraq scrapbook. I almost can’t stand how sad it makes me. On the other hand, it makes me so proud and thankful. “Thank you” doesn’t seem adequate, but I still have to say it. To those who serve our country, thank you.

By the way…onions don’t actually make me cry. (But they’re about the only thing that doesn’t!)

Update: I wrote this post and scheduled it for today before I heard some bad news. A couple I know from college lost their baby yesterday. The wife was 9 months pregnant and had not experienced any problems. But her water broke and she didn’t deliver soon enough.

I can only imagine how excruciating this situation must be for them, and honestly, I’m sure anything I can imagine is still nothing compared to their pain. I’m praying for them, of course. They are believers, so I pray that will carry them through this time. I don’t understand why these things happen. Things like this – as well as my questions following them – also make me cry.