Just hand me a bucket.

Yesterday, while puttering around the house putting away the last of the Christmas decorations, my husband stuck our son in his Excersaucer and starting flipping around for something to watch, eventually settling on Pooh’s Heffalump Movie as background entertainment. I know I’ve seen it in the past, but barely remembered it or the storyline and thought nothing of it when it was turned on.

Little did I know the emotional rollercoaster I was in for.

So (warning: spoilers!) Pooh’s Heffalump Movie is about Pooh Bear and all of his friends being afraid of/trying to catch the Dreaded, Scary Heffalumps (think elephants for visual). Little Roo accidentally runs into and “captures” a baby Heffalump named Lumpy. Long story short, Lumpy gets separated from his Mom as he and Roo are playing together. Cue multiple shots of Lumpy’s Mom frantically running around the the forest and trumpeting her panicked fear, scenes of Lumpy curling into a ball on the ground and crying because he can’t find his Mommy and misses her, and a scene of Lumpy’s Mom reaching through a barn door with her trunk to feel around for Lumpy in the dark that was devastatingly reminiscent of Dumbo’s Mom reaching through the bars of her cage to cradle her baby and rock him one last time.

I. Lost. My. Sh*t. I absolutely sobbed every single time the Mom was on the screen, or every time Lumpy cried, or every time he said “Mommy” (or, actually, “Mummy,” because for some reason Heffalumps are apparently British). I am not usually terribly sappy and I often have a very dry, quite sarcastic take on things, but I suddenly realized that becoming a mother caused me to permanently filter every experience I have or thing I see through the lens of my own motherhood; how would I feel if that was my son crying on the ground in despair because he couldn’t find me? What sheer terror would I feel if I couldn’t find my baby? This was just a Winnie the Pooh movie, folks! I kept looking at my husband and blubbering through tears, “Why in the HELL are we watching this?! This is awful!” Bless his heart; he just kept patting me, rubbing my shoulder, and telling me it would end well… and probably only slightly worrying if I had gone completely off the deep end.

I digress. If becoming a total sap is one of the prices I pay to be a Mom, then… totally worth it.

So, Parents: what things have changed for you? Are there things you can no longer experience without turning into a wreck? Tell us below!