Are You Warm Yet?

If you don't live in Waverly or somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, you may not empathize with us here. But this week has been insanely cold, and last night was the culmination of the freezing moments for me. I generally look forward to Windows on Main for quite a while, and this year I was excited to see Crossed perform some Christmas music. Since Maggie (the drummer Jason's fiancée) was driving from Independence, I thought she might be a little late, and I didn't want to have to find a place to park in all the craziness, so I figured I could walk and meet her there when she arrived. I have bag full of scarves and gloves, so I knew I could bundle up, and it's only 5 blocks, right? I'm tough - I can make it that far.

Oh, my word. OH...MY...WORD. I don't even know what the temperature actually was, but I was at the end of the alley on my block when I realized that this was no ordinary cold. I began to think of all the things I could have done to be warmer for this trek - an additional pair of socks, knee-high boots, tights, a warm hat, an extra pair of gloves...the list goes on. How did I leave the house so unprepared for this? And why again did I choose not to drive? It was the longest 5-block walk of my life...wait, all of a sudden I'm having flashbacks of a rain-soaked walk/run to the Gidleys house this summer. Messy, but still far more fun than last night. I'm sure I looked like a rain-soaked rat, but at least I had a fun memory with Matt that will not soon be forgotten. So...last night's freezing, snowy, icy steps were counted one-by-one and excruciatingly painful as my toes and fingers began to freeze and lose all feeling. I arrived at the Steere building to see that my face was wet, and every time I blinked, mascara was removed from my eyelashes and making black marks on my cheeks and eyelids. What a mess! I have to say, the band did a great job, though. Matt's parts on "Carol of the Bells" and "Oh Holy Night" were so great - it made me so proud to watch him play those so well. So, was it worth the walk? In a way, yes. But I have gained wisdom from the experience and will some day apply it. Such as learning that being a good girlfriend does not necessarily require frozen appendages as part of the deal. Good lesson.