12 Things That Brought You To Tears In The '90s

Things that bring me to tears in my 20s are admittedly a little different than the things that brought me to tears in the '90s. Today, it only takes a few minutes of watching the news or listening to a Bon Iver song to get the tears and the ugly crying flowing. But back then, the land of make believe was more upsetting than reality. It was my dead Tamagotchi and a couple that broke up in a movie. It was an AOL disappointment or the death of a beloved animated jungle animal.

Those were the things that left me weeping and writing journal entries that were mostly washed away from the presence of dribbled tears. Though I have to admit, looking back at some of these things that made me so upset in the '90s now as an adult, I still see it. When you're younger, you're so invested in characters and interactions. You're not as guarded so you put your whole heart into the things you do and see. That's why we were so emotional, because we allowed ourselves to be. These are 14 other things that totally brought you to tears in the '90s, if you're being honest with yourself:

Realizing You'd Never Be With Leo Post-Romeo + Juliet

Realizing that you probably won't ever be with Leo was the hardest part about watching this movie. Like, WHY? WHY?

... Realizing You'd Super Never Be With Leo Post-Titanic

You were probably a little bit less obsessed with Leo at this point but the whole "I'll never let go," scene destroyed you. There wasn't a dry eye in the theater, let's be real. You still can't watch it today.

That Scene We Do Not Speak Of In My Girl

When Thomas J. no longer needed his glasses — you know what I mean — our hearts broke. His friendship with Veda was the most pure, enriched, delightful display of platonic love, and watching her realize that he was gone forever was so devastating. Most of us hadn't had to deal with anything like that yet.

Our First Brush With Murder During The Lion King

I mean, Simba trying to lift his father's paw and realizing that Scar, his own flesh and blood, had actually killed his father, was so not OK. It made us hug our parents tighter at night and look to the stars for Mufasa, too.

A Faulty Discman

Our portable music devices had a short shelf life. After a few months they always started to skip, especially if we moved around too much. It couldn't handle our active lifestyle.

A Dead Tamagotchi

When you put all that work into cleaning its digital poop, feeding it, making sure it has pixelated water, and then it just went and died? It's not just! It made us feel like nothing we did mattered because everything had a fate of its own.

The Unforgiving Nature Of Sun-In

When you'd save your allowance to sneak some Sun-In at the drug store without your mom knowing and then you'd try to lighten your hair on the DL, only to end up with bright orange clown hair? Your mom would quickly figure it out and make you keep it like that to punish you. Nothing like a head or brittle brassy hair to make you feel confident on the first day of school.

Sacrificing Your Tastebuds/Sanity To Warheads

These sour candies were nuclear. They made your mouth pucker, they made your eyes water, they made your throat spasm. It was torture to eat them and never worth the sweeter center. But peer pressure lead to many-a tongue burns and restrained tears.

All Of The AIM Drama

When your crush signed online, your heart would beat out of your chest. You'd keep clicking your desktop to make sure the screen didn't go to sleep as your waited for them to IM you. You'd stress over cute things to say, barely breathing for minutes. And then they'd sign off and your heart would implode. Knowing that they saw you online and didn't bother to say anything was heartbreaking.

The Stumps Of Hair Your Hair Wraps Left Behind

Someone decided that tying friendship bracelet string into your hair was a good idea. It looked pretty for a few days, but once it got washed, it started to look like crap. But you left it in because it took so long to do. But then once you decided to take it out, you realized that it was totally stuck and eternally tangled. Your mother had to cut the whole thing off and you had to live with a stump of hair sprouting out of your head.

Playing "Foolish Games" On Repeat

Jewel really knew how to give her listeners the feels. Her evocative voice and passion-packed lyrics took us to Cry Town in no time. But for some reason, "Foolish Games" really hit the feeling we were all trying to express on the head. Her moody music video was just a tear fest home run.

Joey and Dawson

OK, they weren't a real couple, but we were all rooting for them. We spent so much time hoping that the writers of the show would put them together and were devastated when it didn't turn out the way we expected. We were so invested! All of that build up for nothing!

Images: Giphy, Bazmark Films