We were talking in another thread about uncomfortable public obs. Sharing because Amans requested. It was pretty sad so I’ll leave out some personal details.
 
Background: I was at a house party with my wife, my sister and my brother in law (my sister’s husband). I was just looking forward to meeting some new people and sharing a nice evening with my family. We weren’t expecting or prepared to cry and had no tissues. There were a lot of our neighbors and plenty of strangers there.
 
The Obs: The world series was on and most people were in the living room watching. The third inning had ended and my sister and I had slipped into the kitchen to help cut a giant cake (it was someone’s birthday). I had all four of our phones in my bag, and I heard my brother-in-law’s phone ringing in the bag. My sister started rummaging through my purse while I and a few others went into the living room to serve the cake. A minute later I looked over at her from the living room, and I saw her looking at the phone with a stunned expression and her lips pressed together. I hurried back into the kitchen to find her crying with a tear hanging off the tip of her nose, one at her chin and a third slowly rolling down her left cheek, sniffling haltingly, and she was sort of halfway biting her lower lip while her lips were quivering. I squeezed her shoulder and she showed me the texts she had been reading. When I read them, my heart sank and tears jumped to my eyes. I guided her out into the hallway away from the living room, while she called the person who had been texting and started talking to them in a choked but steady voice. I then stood in the doorway into the kitchen and motioned to my wife to get my brother-in-law and bring him into the hallway.
 
As they were walking up to me, I sniffled a bit and had a tear run down each cheek. My wife looked really concerned and swiftly wiped the tear from my right cheek as she went through the doorway, but then she noticed my sister (who was now weeping heavily) sitting on the floor talking on the phone, and she went to her and sat beside her. My brother in law also did a similar thing, brushed my right cheek with his fingers before noticing his sobbing wife and rushing to her side.
 
Now, I hadn’t heard my sister’s phone conversation because she didn’t have it on speaker, but I knew it must have been bad. While she does cry regularly, she almost never sobs this hard. I was worried and scared; my heart was pounding and I was a bit lightheaded, and I knew we needed to leave. Our car was locked in by another vehicle in the driveway. Thankfully, that vehicle belonged to a couple I knew well, and they were standing in the kitchen. I wiped my tears away and so I went up to them to ask them to move their car. The husband didn’t ask any questions and quickly went out the door to his car, while his wife stayed with me. We were turned away from everyone else, and I was still quietly weeping, and 3-4 more tears rolled down my cheeks, and my nose was starting to run, and at this point I was on the verge of breaking down completely. I must have looked pitiful because she pulled me into a tight comforting hug, which really helped. I was able to calm down a little and avoid sobbing. She then offered me some tissues and I used one to wipe my nose. Several other women and one other man were watching me cry but thankfully didn’t draw too much attention to me, and most of the guys had their eyes glued to the TV so they didn’t notice.
 
I pulled away from her and went back into the hallway. My sister had stopped sobbing and was letting out these quick, post-cry hiccups. My wife was sitting next to her, and she had unsurprisingly started crying. I’ve described her sobbing to you all so many times but I’ll do it again. She was sitting with her knees to her chest, her left hand around her legs, and her right hand holding her forehead, rhythmically sobbing. Her mouth was open in a lip curl, teeth together, with tears dripping down a single trail on each cheek. She was wearing a beautiful, soft sweater dress that made her look extra cuddly, and I had been fantasizing for weeks about holding her while she cried wearing that dress. But I couldn't do that in public.

Now my brother in law had taken the phone back and was talking loudly while pacing back and forth, and when he turned toward me I was shocked to see tears pouring down his face. Two wet streaks on each cheek. He then stopped and leaned against the wall, looking downward. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and dropping off his upper lip. Every two or three seconds, a tear would fly off of his upper lip and into his shirt, or onto the floor. His voice was incredibly strained. By this point my face was wet again.
 
Our neighbor stuck his head into the hallway and let us know that he had moved his car. We all quickly went outside and got into the car and went home.
 
Reflection: Initially I was really uncomfortable about this because we disrupted a fun event with our family drama. Now that I think about it, this wasn’t that bad honestly. Many of the strangers at the party saw tears on the faces of my sister, wife, and myself, and they didn’t really react that much. But my brother in law got a LOT of calls and messages the next day asking what had happened and if he was okay. Maybe everyone was just shocked to see a guy weeping so openly. I know I was shocked. I think he was shedding tears as fast as my wife.