Hi, I'm Mary Catherine, and I'm a crier.
(Hi, Mary Catherine.)
It's always been this way. I think I inherited it from my mother, who is a particularly cry-y person as well. Growing up, there would be times when she'd start to tell a story or describe a moment she'd had during the day. She'd begin, then suddenly stop. The vein in her forehead would start pulsing. She'd frown. "I'm gonna cry talking about it!" would always be her next line. And then she would.
See, people? I didn't stand a chance. I don't mean I'm sobbing all the time, but a little "tear-up;" getting misty; a few subtle tears dropping onto my shirt - and, okay, yes. Sometimes an actual, real, full-on cry.
I saw on Facebook a few months ago that a husband had cataloged all the times and reasons his wife had cried in a week. Since that would make Jordan's hand cramp up, I'll just do it myself. Be prepared for the mixed bag of totally reasonable and totally unreasonable things to come:
MONDAY.
- Re-watching Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Emmy speech in which she thanks her recently deceased father.
- Reading a Facebook status written by a Black girlfriend of mine about how she was being harassed in an airport for not giving up her seat in the terminal. It was close to an outlet and someone else wanted it. She was told she and all Black people are "entitled" and that it was a "race thing." (By the way, this actually happened in 2016).
- New York bombings.
- This precious daddy's affirmations with his daughter before school each morning.
TUESDAY:
- Marc Maron's interview with Robin Williams, which was fantastic.
- Finding out an older friend of mine had been diagnosed with cancer.
- Tearing up with joy because the first signs of fall + a great song on shuffle + throwing the ball to my dog = wonderful moment.
- LOLing at this hysterical piece about Hilary's First 100 Days written by the writers of Veep.
- Watching the helicopter footage of the police officer in Tulsa who killed Terence Crutcher.
- Waiting until I got into my house to cry a little over the sexist construction workers on my street treating me with total dismissal and rudeness.
WEDNESDAY:
- Choking up on the way home from a bluegrass band rehearsal, thinking about how lucky I am to sing great music with sweet people and live in the mountains in this new chapter.
- Tears of frustration after spilling coffee on the chairs Jordan and I worked so hard on (don't worry - I got it out!!).
- Listening to Nadia Bolz-Weber's sermon podcast and appreciating the truth-bombs she drops.
- Laughing so hard I cried because the dress I ordered on Rent the Runway was giving me the appearance of having a large, loose layer of skin around my midsection:
- #skinflap
THURSDAY:
- Watching the First Lady tear it up and realizing they're actually leaving The White House.
- DYING laughing watching Jordan watch this video, which he had somehow NEVER SEEN (?!?!):
- Chopping onions.
- Tom Hanks accidentally clawing a bruise into my left thigh when things got too rowdy as we were playing.
- My car alarm malfunctioning outside an outdoor event I was attending, causing everyone there to stare at me despite my efforts to seamlessly integrate myself into the party. This happened once, I drove away, thought I'd resolved it, then I drove back. The second I opened my car door, it happened again. I eventually fixed it, but it was M O R T I F Y I N G.
FRIDAY:
- This piece of comedic brilliance.
- Beaming with pride over my friend Emily Heller's feature on Ivanka Trump's #womenwhowork section. SO impressive and so well-deserved.
- Noticing that a ladybug was trapped and half-eaten in a spiderweb. I tried to free it. It did not go well.
- Listening to the sweet toasts given to a great couple at my friend Caroline's rehearsal dinner.
- And finally, to round it out, at the awesomeness of this excellent baby, who can't talk yet, but can rap: