17 Times Grey's Anatomy Made You the Person You Are Today

And just like that, Cristina stops being made of stone and becomes a real person with a human heart, one which breaks right in front of our eyes.

When Cristina lets her love-guard down and gives into Burke, we all secretly felt validated. If Cristina can get heart-eyed emoji over her crush, then we're not all so ridiculous. But when he leaves her at the altar and she suffers a mini-breakdown, it was too much to see her at her most vulnerable. Too much.

And every person with an ounce of sexual energy spontaneously combusted from his hotness.

We can never forget the exact moment when Mark Sloan emerges from Addison's hotel room shower, giving us a peak at his man bits and turning us into drooling, lusty leches. And it wasn't just us; America's collective faces exploded all over their television screens, tongues wagged, and he cemented his place in TV history as "McSteamy."

And our ideas about traditional marriage went out the window as we started plotting our Post-It wedding.

Meredith and Derek's relationship starts out as an adulterous, torrid fling. It was hard to take them seriously in the beginning — especially because Meredith freaks out every other episode. But when they exchanged vows, it became pretty clear that this relationship was the real deal and they were an actual adult couple.

And we learned that we can mourn so many things at once. Thanks, Grey's Anatomy, for testing the limits of our sadness.

During this plane crash, we finally hear Mark say "I love you" to Lexie, but it's moments before she dies, so we got robbed a little. Also, Arizona loses a leg, Derek's surgical future is jeopardized, and Cristina and Meredith suffer PTSD for months after. There are so many simultaneous tragedies that Grey's really taught us a lesson about emotional multitasking.

And our hearts, already so full with their beautiful love story, grew three sizes.

Sure, they were already sort of married (via the Post-It), but when they decide to start their family by adopting Zola, we really knew that they would always be a thing forever. There was a comfort in knowing their love story wouldn't continue to be so undecided and our faith was restored a little.

And we all laughed through tears, because we knew their time was so limited.

Alex and Izzie's love story was a long time coming, and we shipped them hard, even before shipping was even a thing. They got married at what was supposed to be Meredith and Derek's wedding, and the subsequent love story that plays out amid Izzie's cancer is an insane test to what a viewer is willing to put up with in any given season of a TV season.

And we all immediately called our best friend so we could tell them they were our person.

We might take "you're my person" for granted now, but 11 years ago, the friendship between Cristina and Meredith was unlike any other on TV. We saw our besties in these two, and when Meredith tells Cristina, "Derek is love of my life, but you're my soulmate," we all knew exactly what she means.

And the feelings of empathy and sisterhood we felt for Cristina could not be contained. She was our sister in that moment.

Grey's was among the first primetime shows to openly address abortion, so when Cristina asserts her feelings about the matter to a very hostile Owen, we felt an overwhelming sense of pride. And when Owen comes around and winds up holding her hand through the procedure, some of that pride transferred right on over.

And the weight of her tragedy stayed with us for days after that episode.

Grey's has never shied away from hard topics, but the death of April's baby felt particularly aggressive to audiences. Facing infant mortality is not the usual fare of nighttime soaps, and watching April and Jackson hold Samuel is one of the most heartbreaking moments in Grey's history.

And we held our breaths for an entire week, waiting to see if Callie and the baby would survive the accident.

The very next episode was the groundbreaking musical episode in which everyone sings some of the more famous songs from the show — everybody remembers "How to Save a Life," right? We had to wait an entire week between the crash and Callie in the hospital and then an almost entire episode while they save her. After what happens to George and Mark, we really didn't know what would happen to Callie and the baby.

And we weep silently as we watch Derek and Callie realize he's gone. We've never needed to give another human a hug worse than we needed to give these two friends one.

By the time Mark dies, he had evolved into one of the most interesting, caring, and beloved characters on the show. The friendship triangle that developed between him, Callie, and Derek is unexpected, but we loved it. Dealing with our own pain over his death is one thing, but having to watch Callie and Derek go through it too . . . brutal.

And we gasp. And then cry. And then realize that we're about to have to say goodbye to someone else we love.

T.R. Knight left the show because of some behind-the-scenes stuff, but George's on-air death is SUPER dramatic. He is hit by a bus after saving a stranger and is completely unrecognizable when he's brought in to the hospital. Meredith finally recognizes the John Doe as George, and we swear the Earth stopped turning for just a second.

And we, along with Meredith, begin to eat our own hearts out.

Meredith and Derek don't exactly start their relationship on the up and up. Meredith is an intern under McDreamy, and Derek was still technically married to Addison. When she shows up to the hospital with that hair, that smirk, and that sex appeal, we wanted to hate her for Meredith, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

And the phrase "pink mist" is forever part of our Grey's experience.

There's always a LOT of melodrama at the hospital, but a man with a bomb in his chest might be the most bizarre of all the medical conditions we've seen. Of course, the gang saves him with the help of the hunky bomb squad guy (a young, fresh-faced Kyle Chandler), but unfortunately for the future Coach Taylor, the bomb explodes and sends bits of him all over Meredith.

And we questioned everything about our emotional well-being. Seriously, we didn't know if we were going to be able to go on.

This scene has been talked and analyzed to death, but in the moment, it felt like Grey's was reaching directly into our chest and squeezing our hearts into submission. Derek's unexpected death sent him out like a hero — he dies saving other folks — but it also leaves Meredith (and us, for that matter) as a hollow shell of a human. We just weren't ready to say goodbye to McDreamy just yet.

And we begin to wonder if Meredith is OK as she always claims to be. (By the way, she is NOT).

Meredith legit dies during this episode, and it also hints that she might have done it on purpose. It's very unsettling to see the usual unflappable Dr. Grey become so undone, but it is a treat to get to see Denny and bomb-squad Dylan again in heaven.

And it was in this moment, as we sobbed into our hands, that we realized nobody is safe on Grey's.

Denny and Izzie's love story was one for the books. He is charming and rugged, and she is pretty and quick-witted. We loved them so, so much. When Denny gets sick, then unexpectedly dies, we weren't prepared. Watching Alex peel Izzie's hysterical body out of Denny's hospital bed was one of the more traumatic moments of our life.