"What Is This Salty Discharge?"

Sometimes I get very emotional to the point that I cry when I listen to sad songs (and happy songs for that matter). And I'm notorious for getting sniffly watching romantic movies. Actually it doesn't have to be romantic but just have poignant moments. But it seems lately that I haven't seen any touching scenes in any media. Until today...

I'm a Netflix member, and I end up ordering movies that by the time I get them I forget what they are about, and today was such the case when Juno arrived. It's about a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant by one of her high school chums. She's smart, funny, sarcastic, sensitive and clever, and when the waiting room of an abortion clinic gets absolutely on her nerves she decides against terminating the fetus. What ensues is her journey through pregnancy, which turns out to have some rather emotional moments.

When I'm in my wheelchair I have to do weight shifts every half-hour, which entails tilting back until I am like an astronaut getting ready to blast off. While doing so I am supposed to stay in said position for one minute, but I get impatient, so I pause what I'm doing on the computer and put on some music (actually what I do is pull up my blog page and listen to whatever song comes up on the shuffle playlist). Today, Hank Williams’ I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry came on, and that has to be one of the saddest songs ever written, and I got all blubbery on it. Then She and Him performed Dream a Little Dream for Me, and Zooey Deschanel's beautiful voice moved me to tears. So now I am in this heightened emotional state and the least little thing really gets to me.

It's not such a bad thing to be emotional and easily moved to tears, but it can still be a problem if you can't wipe your eyes, and such is the case with me. So I try to stay away from romantic movies and poignant films unless I have a willing partner to wipe my tears. Even with a close friend I get embarrassed, and it's hard for me to ask for the tissue treatment.

I remember the Seinfeld episode where he has a girlfriend who claims he doesn't get angry and he's not in touch with his emotions. At some point he does actually get emotional and he exclaims, "What--what is this salty discharge?" That was funny.

So now I am having all this salty discharge from my eyes. Life could be worse.