Baby, It's Cold Outside

24 weeks 2 days

Christmas. While the temps decrease, the cups of hot chocolate, holiday festivities, and Christmas songs increase. I walked through Union Station today, past a trio of Salvation Army volunteers playing a Christmas song on their trumpets. Tears began to creep themselves up, waiting to take a dive off the rim of my eyes. The first sounds of Christmas, the first sight of volunteers smiling and asking for donations to benefit those in need, tends not only to pull at my heart strings, but stretch them out and snap them back in like rubber bands. Two minutes later, I passed another trio, this time they were playing Feliz Navidad and I laughed. For that song always reminds me when I sang that in 7th grade with 3 other girls, in front of the entire school. My bright red turtleneck, loose all over except at the neck where it was strangling me, and my white skirt that showed off my white legs (I wasn't wearing tights), and my large, black glasses that took up half of my face - there I was singing like a cat caught in a razor fence, doused in cold rain watching the lightening creep closer - and I sang my heart out anyway (and I think I sang some people out of the auditorium too).

Snow. The first time those frosted flakes fall (no, not the cereal, but that does sound good about now) unto the cold pavement, covering the street and trees and dying grass in an ivory cloak, I take a deep breath and say, "Oh, man. This stinks." I don't like driving in the snow, don't like shoveling, throwing salt onto it that eats away at my new gloves, don't like the way the blanket hides the ice patches like mines, just waiting for an unsuspecting passerby to step, and slip and fall. Sure snow is beautiful - on a Christmas card.

Winter. A time to purchase boots, gloves, a scarf, ear muffs, coat, leggings, thick socks, sweaters and toasty toes. A time to spend plenty of money on these necessities only to have in a short amount of time, one glove, salt-encrusted boots, a ripped scarf, cold ears due to lost ear muffs, a hole in your sock, and shrunken sweaters.

Level of Attractiveness During Freezing Temperatures. I have seen one too many of women, in their tall high heel boots, tiny thin coats, bare ears and thin gloves, slip on oh those mines I mentioned above, have the reddest, driest, most painful looking noses and ears that make me want to touch them to watch them crack and crumble, and hair that isn't covered by a hat, yet by frizz control products and hairspray. Oh, yes and one last accessory for these women are Kleenex as they always have a cold. Then there are the rest of us, bundled up like Arctic ninja's, only eyes are seen, waddling as they walk (I waddle now without all this gear on), you wouldn't be able to point out your mother among these stealth, layered, honorary Eskimos.

Baby. Through this winter of already below 0 temps, my baby, warm and oblivious in her temporary home (her lease expires in 3 months), kicks and punches and reminds me that she's on her way. That next winter will be the warmest one yet in my life. A winter I am throughly looking forward to.