So Happy, It Made Me Cry

I read chapter books to my children, a chapter each night at bedtime. We recently finished A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The kids enjoyed the story so much that I let them watch two movie adaptations. First, the ancient Shirley Temple version, then we watched the 1997 version.

I confess, I almost always cry at happy endings, even those I've seen or read in the past. Toward the very end of the 1997 version, Sarah is reunited with her father (unlike in the novel, where he dies), and my five-year-old son was so moved by the reunion scene that he started blinking, then hid his eyes. I walked over to him, and he said, "Mommy, it made me so happy, it made me cry."

Such a precious moment. I took him on my lap, and we cried together.