8 Responses to “Crybaby”

1. Michele, there’s a woman in my church who has a pretty good voice, sings in the choir, does duets, the whole thing - but whenever she does a solo, she ends up crying. I don’t know if it’s nervousness or if she’s feelign moved or what, but I’m certain it has to be beyond embarrassing to have that happen with everyone in the church watching you.

   Sorry I have no suggestions, but at least you know you’re not alone, and it COULD be worse!

   by Kris Fletcher on September 24th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
   
   

2. I’m a sucker for the Folgers coffee commercial that runs at Christmastime.

   I’m sorry but I have no suggestions either. You must just be one of those deeply emotional people that wear their hearts on their sleeves. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. Endearing, really.

   As for the kids, let them poke fun at mom if it gets them through the day. Mine do it all the time!

   by debbie on September 24th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
   
   

3. I’m a crybaby too! Sad, happy, doesn’t matter. If I try to talk about myself as having done something right or good, I cry. When you do something that touches me, I cry. When anything patriotic happens, I cry. If I’m mad, I cry.

   As a child, I cried a lot, and there was a lot of humiliation to try to get me to stop, but it never worked and made me cry more. Nowadays, I just accept it. The only thing that sometimes helps is to get a drink of water, which can open up the tightness in my throat. It doesn’t always work though, and I try not to fight the tears, even though they bug my husband. I think he’s finally getting used to it, though, as he told someone else about it the other day, and laughed. Now he just talks about the ocular implant malfunctioning.

   And I get the questions too — “your face is really red; yes, I was crying”. My nose lights up, the rest of the face shortly after, I get hot, the nose runs, the throat closes. I just try to get through it.

   by Jan on September 24th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
   
   

4. me too, me too. I cry when I’m happy, sad, angry . . .

   At church, I don’t always cry but often do. Especially embarrassing when I am serving as a Eucharistic Minister. Plus, distributing communion I discover that I find it emotionally wonderful to be sharing the gift.

   After receiving my MBA, my boss hosted a lunch for me. He toasted me and I was fine. The former adminstrator said some wonderful words and I was fine. I started thanking everyone for being there and thanking them for their support and turned into a blithering idiot. Go figure.

   by Mary Lynn in Cleveland on September 25th, 2007 at 8:49 am
   
   

5. Certain church hymns do it to me. Some I remember playing on the piano to entertain my grandmother. One was sung at her funeral, another at my mother’s. And then there’s those background stories to why some of the hymns were written, such as “Amazing Grace.” Makes me blubber every time. The only thing I’ve found that helps stop the tears in their tracks is to pinch my upper lip until it hurts and mentally do some math problems. I can only imagine what the people in the pews around me think when they see me squeezing my lip.

   Kate

   by Kate on September 25th, 2007 at 11:35 am
   
   

6. Okay–I do feel better, and I’m going to try the math problems in my head. Too bad I’m terrible in math. Hmm–maybe it will make me better. It is good to know that I am not alone, and even though I had thought about joining the choir at one point–I’m thinking, probably not a good idea.

   Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments.

   Cheers,
   Michele

   by Michele on September 25th, 2007 at 11:47 am
   
   

7. I think it’s sad we live in a society that is embarrassed/uncomfortable around tears. I wonder if this is an American thing? I think there are other cultures that shed their tears unabashedly. We should never be ashamed to show our emotions, even if we’re not exactly sure what we’re feeling at that moment!

   I love that tissue commercial where people are sitting on a couch outside in the middle of some big city, telling their very personal stories to a total stranger and they start crying!

   Not that I’m recommending my personal remedy or anything, but I used to cry at the drop of a hat, but for me it turned out to be one of many symptoms of depression. Now that I take meds I hardly cry at all. And to tell you the truth, that bothers me a bit. It’s almost as if there is something blocking my ability to deeply feel for something.

   Oh, well, I’ll save that one for the couch.

   by Krista of Pleiades on September 25th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
   
   

8. Michele, this same thing happened to me when I first started going to church when I was in my teens. The funny thing was that it only happened in the Catholic church. Weird! Eventually it stopped, thank goodness. But I liked to think that it was the Holy Spirit that had moved me. And not guilt for never going to church regularly before (that Catholic guilt sets in right away, you know!).

   So, no, you’re not alone! But I don’t know how to stop it from happening, either. I like Kate’s math idea!

   by Heather on September 27th, 2007 at 8:56 am
   
   

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