377 days, Blog #153 Three Things I Learned Today (in the cold)

1. Cold can actually provoke nostalgia.  I remember very distinctly the winter I moved back to Newton.  I remember that it snowed that December.  The December I directed a pretty perfect staging of It’s a Wonderful Life – well, at least I can say it was perfect in that I had the best Jimmy Stewart doppelganger – and half of it was canceled due to snow.  Then it didn’t snow for the rest of the winter.  But it was cold.  REALLY cold.  And I remember that.  I remember that because I made the choice as the show opened to move back to the Boston area.  Within days of that determination, I was laid off from my Central Massachusetts job.  So my first few months in that old Victorian house on Washington Park were spent looking for a job, but relishing in the luxury of a third floor bedroom with radiated heat… and drives back to Worcester for movie nights.  It was so cold.  Our host (and my eventual roommate a few years later) lived on a hill and there was a steep staircase to get into his condo.  I remember those steps in the cold.  I remember Pirates of the Caribbean and the special features of its DVD.  I remember pizza delivery.  I remember silliness.  I remember one friend who would go out and turn on our cars to warm them up.  I remember driving home at some dark (COLD) hour of night down Rte. 9 back to Newton.  Those are warm memories.  Sometimes you have to know the cold to get the warmth.

2. I can plan a meeting well.  But it still doesn’t go the way I imagine.  I guess nothing ever really does.  And there really isn’t much more to say about that.

3. A Christmas tree is just as magical after the last day of Christmas.  It’s cold.  The lights are twinkly.  And damn it, I have THE MOST PERFECTLY SHAPED tree this year.  But I think this cold is going to make the needles all fall to the ground when I move it on Saturday.  But for now, it adds the warmth of a smile as the temperature drops below zero.