I've just returned home from a 75 minute walk with my dog, Jonah. Instead of going to Snug Harbor, which is across the street from my house, I decided to walk a bit further - to Silver Lakes Park - and let Jonah loose in the dog park there. I did not check the weather or temperature outside before we left, but I knew pretty quickly that it was really, really cold out. (I've just learned, upon returning, that it was 27, but with the windchill, "feels like 13." Yes, indeed, it did. We had a beautiful walk, though, and while my glasses are still fogged up and my fingers have not quite thawed out, I'm glad we went. We both needed the exercise and fresh air.

I decided this morning that I would pack up all my Christmas decorations this afternoon, so in a little bit that's what I'm going to do. When we got in from our walk, I carried the empty Christmas boxes upstairs to my apartment from my storage area on the first floor, and, once again, am thinking of my grandmother, Alice Biscomb, and how much I miss her. I miss her at times throughout the year, but especially at Christmas, because I inherited many of my most beloved decorations from her, including my manger scene.

Cory was my first crush. Given the circumstances under which we were introduced, it was somewhat inevitable. I was nine years old and just discovering that boys existed. My oldest cousin was marrying the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and they had asked me to be a junior bridesmaid in their wedding. It was the first wedding I had ever been asked to be part of, and I met Cory, who was just months older than me, the weekend of the wedding. We were being paired to walk down the aisle together.

The women gathered in the fellowship hall to make final preparations for the wedding. Careful not to catch my curls, Mom zipped up my teal green satin bridesmaid’s dress. It had puffy sleeves, a full skirt, a heart-shaped neckline and matching satin roses on the sides of the neckline that were still being sewed on just minutes before the wedding began. At the time, it was the single most glamorous stitch of fabric ever to grace my chunky, underdeveloped adolescent body.