Anyone Got A Kleenex?!?!?!

Those who know me well can testify that I'm probably the weepiest guy in America. I'm not ashamed of the fact that it doesn't take much for the tears to start flowing...but it does make for some awkward circumstances.

I was reminded of this fact yesterday...as I was hit with a barrage of sad news in a short span of time. Most notable of these were that one of my favorite students here at ACU is pregnant and the "male donor" wants nothing to do with her, and one of my most favorite people in the world was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

So I'm relaying this information to one of my co-workers with my eyes welling up with tears. I apologized, noting once again that I'll cry at anything. And I began to detail some of the things that make me turn into a blubbering mass of tears and tissue.

Texas State Basketball Tournament: I know what you're thinking -- how on earth does a guy cry watching basketball...and girls basketball at that! Well...for years, Robin and I have gone to the girls tournament. In each championship game, there is a winner and a loser...and Robin giggles at me as tears stream down my face as I watch the losing team mourn their loss. The incident that sticks out is when Whiteface lost in the Class A championship game on a last-second shot...and while the winning team (Nazareth, I think) is celebrating, the coach from Whiteface went down the bench, took the face of each of his sobbing players in his hands, and kissed them on the cheek. I absolutely lost it, and, truth-be-told, am tearing up while typing this!

Funerals: Yes, everyone cries at funerals...but I cry at funerals of people I don't even know!!!! People I've never met in person!!! Sad, but true. How I eulogized my grandfather I'll never know!

Movies: Here, for your amusement, are five movies that stick out in my mind as paralyzing me with sorrow (no laughing, please)...

5. "The Champ" -- Boxing movie with Ricky Schroeder and Jon Voigt. This is notable as it's the first movie I remember crying in (Champ dies in his last boxing match)...and I was 8!!!
4. "E.T." -- Watched it not too long ago with Elijah and Noah; both thought it was funny that there daddy was tearing up. Both boys OBVIOUSLY have their mother's sensitivity!
3. "School of Rock" -- Not only is this my most favorite movie of all time, but I cry every time they play their song at the end. No, I have absolutely no idea WHY I'm crying -- I just am!
2. "Dead Man Walking" -- No lie, I cried solid through the last 45-minutes of this movie. I don't necessarily recommend seeing this movie as it's quite disturbing, but it's AWESOME! I actually felt sorry for Sean Penn's character!
1. "Hoosiers" -- I cry in three different parts of this movie each time: A) When Ollie (the short, funny-looking bench warmer) sinks both free throws to win the regional final game; B) When Everett and his dad (Dennis Hopper) have their reunion at the hospital; and C) When Jimmy Chitwood hits the shot at the end and the ensuing celebration takes place.

Honorable mention goes out to "Steel Magnolias," "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Dad," "Phenomenon," and any other movie that has a funeral scene.