Things That Broke My Heart

1) Watching that scene in Braveheart for the first time when the little girl gives the little boy a flower. I think I was twelve or so…whenever it came out.

2) Handing my little brother fifty cents to put into the collection basket at church, after he had been excited about doing it, and having the usher pass us by for some reason. I sent him running down the pew to catch the usher on his way up the other side, but he either ignored or didn’t see him, preventing him from depositing the fifty cents into the basket. His disappointment was evident. Can’t seem to forget that one. I was maybe 5 or so myself.

3) Finishing 1984 as a teenager.

4) Convincing another brother of mine that he was getting a box of coal for christmas, and having his first present be in a cardboard shipping box (toy cash register), which he assumed was full of coal, at which point he started crying and tried to run away. (ok, I laugh a little at this one)

5) The curious look on a particular woman’s face, after I handed her a frog I had just caught; both of us standing knee deep in mud.