that sounds pretty. I think it's great that she feels comfortable enough to cry in front of you.

Last edited by inmyarms (January 14, 2014 2:59 am)

Congratulations on your marriage!

I love your observation; thanks for posting! I've never seen someone who only sobs, either, especially with no wobble in the voice, but it sounds beautiful. And wow, two hours.

I don't know if family members cry similarly, but I certainly wouldn't object to doing a study! My mother tended to sob silently but hard, with loud catches of breath between each sob. She also had a big curl. I think my lips tend to be more contorted than curled, and I usually have shorter, silent sobs and some quiet breath-catching. So maybe somewhat similar. Interesting topic to explore!

@Tornorth, I think my mother probably had the lip curl her whole life. Certainly as long as I can remember...the first time I remember seeing her cry, I was about five years old, and she did have it then. She was always very emotional and not ashamed about crying in front of others.

My wife's family has been going through a stressful time. My nephew (Brother-in-law's son) has had health problems ever since birth, and since the beginning of this year he has been having health scares more and more frequently. That was the reason for the crying episode I detailed above. He basically had another scare last week, and that caused some emotions.

When I got home and went into my guest room, my brother in law and his wife were sitting on either side of the bed, and their son was lying in the bed, awake and clearly shaken up after getting back from the emergency room. His wife's eyes were red from crying but she seemed to have stopped, and she was carefully feeding her son some food. My brother in law was a mess; his face was red, and tears were dripping off his nose and onto the bed. He was angrily muttering under his breath, very irrationally blaming his wife for what had happened, but every time he tried to raise his voice he'd break down into loud, deep sobs. After a minute, he got up and pushed past me, storming out the front door. As the door slammed shut, I sat down with his wife and took the food from her hands to feed her son, and she started crying again. She's a Punjabi woman in her mid twenties, with long black hair and brown eyes. She let her tears fall freely and had a mild lip curl but didn't sob. She blew her nose hard afterward on a tissue.

Three days later my mother in law was at our home, and the topic of her grandson's health and her son's temper came up. She started crying basically the same way as I described in the OP, except this time she did cry while talking. Basically she would complete a sentence, and then the words would taper off into sobs, with her lips parted and a pretty intense lip curl. What amazes me is that her crying did not seem stressful. It looked so casual. After a bout of sobbing, she would just stop and take a sip of iced tea, wipe her eyes, read a text message on her phone, and then sob again. It is actually a little disconcerting.

@tearhunter
I also have two sisters. My youngest sister is the most emotional of all of us, and has similar crying habits to mine, I believe. The difference is, I think her nose starts running easily. So, you start hearing her sniffling way before tears start falling from her eyes. Another difference is, while she allows tears to fall freely, she wipes them from her face really, really hard. She has cried eight times so far this year, so her frequency is similar to mine as well. My middle sister is an aggressive eye-wiper; I don't think I've seen a teardrop on her cheek since she was eight. She also has a lip curl, but without sobbing, if that makes sense. She has cried only three times so far this year. Very different from me.

Last edited by truffle (May 15, 2014 7:23 pm)

My youngest sister is living with me so I witnessed her episodes. I asked my middle sister and she told me. No guessing.