Really interesting observation yesterday. My husband and I were taking the bus home, and we sat across from a middle-aged guy who struck up a conversation with us. I had the feeling he was a social person who had a hard life and is now pretty lonely, because he launched into a lot of detail about his personal life, his past, and his trip to the store. After he'd been talking to us for about 5 minutes, he started talking about an emotional event he'd witnessed, and he said to us, "I think I'm actually going to cry about this."

The whole thing was a bit uncomfortable, of course; this complete stranger was sharing really personal stuff with us and was about to break down. But honestly, I didn't mind listening to him talk at all. He was very friendly, even if he was being a bit socially awkward.

Anyway, as he predicted, he started to cry a few seconds later. He kept talking, but his eyes filled with tears and started to stream down his face. He wiped them away as they streamed steadily while he spoke. I didn't hear any catch in his voice, although he did pause a couple of times to take a deep breath. This went on for about 10 minutes, and eventually he gathered his composure and changed the subject - we reached our stop shortly thereafter. It was a fascinating experience.