Be warned. This entry contains spoilers.
I’ve been thinking about the things in life that are so beautiful they bring us to tears. I don’t mean things that are sad necessarily, but those things that make us cry just from their sheer beauty. Here’s my list.
In the Movie category:
· The last 15 minutes of Stranger than Fiction, from the moment that Harold is told he has to die to serve Karen’s masterpiece all the way through to the last voiced over monologue about all the things that save our lives. So. Very. Beautiful. I love the whole movie, the script and Zach Helm, but that last 15 minutes just sends me over the edge.
· Whale Rider: The scene where the girl stands up to tell the story of her people and her grandfather doesn’t show up. Ohmigod. I couldn’t even describe it out loud without crying.
Music
· You are the New Day, King’s Singers. I heard it first when I was pregnant. You can just imagine the waterworks that ensued.
· Butterly, by Rajaton.
This choir has NO accompaniment folks. That’s all voice. Amazing.
· Hallelujah. Leonard Cohen’s song that hits you in the solar plexus and won’t let go. Particularly as sung by k.d. lang on Hymns of the 49th Parallel.
· Like an Angel Passing Through my Room. This song is written by the ABBA guys Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and is sung by Sophie van Otter on the album For the Stars (with Elvis Costello)
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Good Mother by Jann Arden. Those who have heard it need no other explanation. If you haven’t heard it, wait no longer!
Books:
· The ending of The Time Traveller’s Wife. It’s too complicated to go into as it involves time travel, obviously so I won’t give it away. But I wept LIKE A BABY.
· The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart. Such a beautiful story.
Television:
· In Northern Exposure. It’s the episode called Northern Lights in Season 4. Chris’ winter art project involves collecting all the lights he can find in the town and making this crazy art installation which he introduces to the townsfolk with a beautiful monologue about what light means to humanity. Then he switches all the lights on with these giant switches at the same time that Enya’s Ebudae starts.
And hey, there’s always the Real Life moments:
· Christmas carols & the kids’ Christmas concerts. No matter how bad, I get all choked up.
· Weddings. Of course.
· Baptisms. Our priest has this beautiful ritual where after a baptism he holds up the infant and walks it down the aisles of the church introducing it to the community. I have to feign sand in my eyes every time.
· My youngest saying “Merry Christmas Mommy”
How irritating are all these links eh what?
What’s your “so beautiful it makes me cry” list?
Tentative Equinox North
Tentative Equinox 
Music – Peter Gabriel singing “Book of Love” at the end of the movie “Shall We Dance”. Cry EVERY time.
– Good Friday Service, when the choir starts singing “Were You There?”
– “Broken” and “Storm” by Lifehouse.
Books – Oh, where to start. Cry like a baby EVERY SINGLE TIME I read the moment where Anne Shirley realizes she loves Gilbert as she’s kneeling by her window during the storm. If I need a good cry, I’ll actually go and get the book out and read that passage.
Harry Potter – yes, I admit it. Cried like a baby, sitting at the kitchen counter, reading that Harry had ‘died’. Kids razzed me to no end about that one…..ok, that’s not a “beautiful crying moment”….whatever.
Moments in Life – the obvious ones…first sight of each baby during their ultrasound. Holding them for first time after their birth. Taking them up to communion for their first blessing. A newborn sleeping on his or her Daddy’s chest. Weddings, funerals.
The “hits you when you’re least expecting it” – there’s a family at our church who adopted a child with severe CP. They carry her in church (no wheelchair) and the family takes turns holding her. When their teenage son asks for a turn to hold her and carries her up to communion for her blessing, I break down every time. Beautiful.
There’s a blog I’m following of a family and their struggle with his wife’s CF and having a daughter at 24 weeks gestation. Watching the video of him holding his daughter for the first time. BAWLING.
http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/
Keeley running around in the kitchen, running past me, stopping in her tracks and running back to hug my legs and say “Iy yuf uu”, then running away. Yes, tears.
Signing the papers to buy our first home. Freaking out and worrying “Did we do the right thing?” then getting in the car, turning on the radio and the song “I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life” by Greenday starts playing….”it’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life….” cried and was at peace.
I hope others share!
Books – piles and piles that have touched my heart – but ET made my cry in public. But then again so did the movie. Today I finished “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer about a boy’s journey in dealing with his father’s death in 9/11. It prompted me to revisit footage of that day. The enormity of the day makes me cry.
Movie – Pay it Forward, my youngest cried so hard you could hear her from the street.
Life – Randy Pausch’s life with cancer. You can listen to his last lecture in a clip from the Oprah show http://video.stumbleupon.com/
or check out his website.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html
O Canada makes me cry all the time. Children singing make me cry.
To realize I may be almost over the hill, fat, married for 28 years and my husband still adores me. That amazes me and make me cry. To have teenage children that love to spend time with me is a joy beyond belief. those tears are well earned.
So much makes me cry – and I love and cherish every tear.
Here’s my list o’ tears:
“It’s A Wonderful Life” – “To the richest man in town!”
The bagpipes – One of the most strange, yet most beautiful sounds in the world.
“Life Is Beautiful” – The scene in the concentration camp where Robert Benigni plays “Barcarolle” by Offenbach for his wife.
“Barcarolle” by Offenbach
Ave Maria sung in chuch.
“The Lord of the Rings” – movies and the books
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
“Beauty and the Beast” and “Monsters Inc.” – I choke up towards the end for both movies.
This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
Christina singing – I mean that in a very good way.
Kids laughing
Hearing stories about long-lasting, happy marriages
New-borns (human and animalian)
“Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber
And I digress, before this list gets any longer
Yours in tears (and smiles),
Sarah
PS Colleen, I agree about the “Anne” series. I think I cried in almost every single book. Time for a re-read.