"Bring on the Tears, Olympics."

I have the most vivid memories of watching the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. I watched every moment of the Magnificent Seven journey to gold, and my 11-year-old self loved it.

I'll admit that I've been pretty absent when it comes to the Olympics since, but thanks to Ray's (slightly) addictive personality, we were obsessed. We spent two weeks, going to work, coming home, making dinner, and settling in for primetime Olympics. Ray and I had entire weekend days, and nights, devoted to being fat kids and couch potatoes.

Also, I've been known to cry at the drop of a hat.

I've been that way since the beginning of college. (I opened the floodgates about halfway through my freshman year and haven't looked back since.) I choose to believe this is an endearing quality of mine.

At any rate, during this Olympics, there was many a time where tears welled up in my eyes flowed with reckless abandon.

For starters, it was the time Kim Rhode won the gold medal in women's skeet shooting. She is the first American (man or woman) to medal in FIVE consecutive Olympics games.

 I was beside myself because she was still so overwhelmed with pride and emotion, even though she's done this before. This isn't her first time at the rodeo, and she still feels the same.

Along those same lines, there was Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor. I love them. I feel like they are really truly the best of friends. BFFL. B-Fries. I can't get enough of how Kerri just loses her shit up there on the podium as they receive the gold for the third time. And, how Misty holds her hand the whole time. 

And gymnastics. Oh, gymnastics. I wasn't a big Barbie girl, but I did have one of the Olympic gymnastic Barbies that came out during the games in 1996. And yes, mine was black. What a great year for women's gymnastics (not so much for the boys this time around). Here are some tear-inducing moments. 

Gabby Douglas on the balance beam. You know, the night she one the all-around gold. 

McKayla Maroney's almost perfect vault. (The video isn't great, but you need to see this if you haven't already.)

The end of Aly Raisman's floor routine, where she knew she rocked it and knew she had pretty much locked in the gold medal. 

And, this image, posted by Jordan Burroughs on his Twitter, an American wrestler made me well up at my desk at work.  

This is what the Olympics are supposed to be about. Uniting the world through sport. Sure, it was just for two weeks, and yes, none of the world's problems got solved by the Olympics, but still. It's nice to know that differences can be put aside, for a little while.

Currently, Ray and I mourning the end of the Olympics. And, planning a trip to Rio in 2016. 

(Blogger's Note: This is in no way an exhaustive list of tear-inducing moments of the Olympics, but the ones I know will stay with me long after the Olympians drift into obscurity.)