April's Monkey: Yes, I Cried (This month's monkey graciously offered by blork et martine.) I'm a strong chick, surrounded by equally strong chicks who tend to make fun of me when I slip and reveal the thin vein of vulnerability that lurks beneath my thick skin. One very dreary Sunday afternoon, I decided to plunk myself in front of the TV and watch a film. I was feeling...listless. Normally, I'd be brunching, reading, writing, bricolaging, something-ing. But this afternoon, I just gave in to mental and physical sloth. Little Women (the newish one with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder) was playing on Bravo and I settled in for a commercial-free couple of hours of fluff. It was helpful that the dishy Christian Bale was playing the role of "Laurie", Jo's love interest. Anyhoo, the girls go through trials and tribulations, one of them dies and their daddy finally comes home from some prisoner of war camp. I cried. I cried through most of the movie. I justified this by telling myself that a good cry, regardless of the sappy primo genitor, was a good thing. When my friend A asked what I had done that afternoon, still feeling a bit bluesy from the film, I replied wistfully "I watched Little Women. It made me cry." "Maggie! How could you!" While A believes in a good cry, she definitely believes it should be the result of something important. To this day, this incident remains one of the major signifiers of our friendship, marking the moment when I revealed that, midst all my strong chick friends, I may be the sappiest of the bunch.