Some habits die hard.
Like staying up way too late, stalking your friend from fifth grade on Facebook, or picking off all your nail polish when you see you have one little chip on your pinky nail….
… or waiting to edit photos you took four months ago. When it was snowing. And now it’s July.
So you can see why I decided to go with a “Christmas in July” theme for today’s post. If I give it a pretty name, no one will notice how out of place it is, right? Right.
Because I arrived in Boston mid-June, one of my biggest fears moving here was the upcoming winter. In the past, driving in the snow has left me in a state of total panic, tears threatening to spill, and nail marks in my hands from gripping the steering wheel in sheer terror. It’s just one of those fears I’ve never been able to overcome. When my boss told me I could work from home anytime it snowed this winter, thus avoiding the dramatic morning commute, I could have melted into a puddle of relieved joy.
On one particular morning in early March, I anxiously stared out my window at the snow sheeting down, eating my cereal and debating whether or not to call in and let my boss know I wouldn’t be coming in that day. An hour later, with the snow still stubbornly trying it’s best to transform the roads into an ice rink turned obstacle course, I decided to stay home and made the call.
I told myself what a mess I would have been if I tried the commute and that I was much more productive at home. And I was. So productive, in fact, that by 2 o’clock, the steady stream of emails died down and I realized I had a wonderful opportunity presenting itself to me:
A slow inbox, working from home, and a graveyard across the street filled with snow. All I needed was someone willing to brave the cold with me…
Luckily my friend Jeralee had a free afternoon and, even more luckily, was willing to traipse around the snowy graveyard like it was a warm, sunny afternoon in late Spring, all while dressed up like a Southern Belle in a hoop skirt. Sometimes I ask myself why I have such good friends when I regularly ask them to make a fool of themselves (and occasionally risk hypothermia). Hopefully they know that I am right there fooling along with them!
As a little side note, I would be a terrible friend if I didn’t mention how wonderful Jeralee is. A beautiful musician, Jeralee always manages to pull the most carefree laughter out of the people around her, no matter their current mood. She’s not afraid to humble you a little bit, in a half-joking, half-serious kind of way, while simultaneously inspiring excellence. A skill I wish everyday that I had. Jeralee was the first person to befriend me here in Boston, and I will always remember the first time she told me, mid-laughter, that she was glad I had moved here. I’m glad I did too, Jeralee. You’ve been a wonderful friend this past year and I hope there’s many more ahead of us.
I like to think that maybe all of our pretending Spring was here paid off, as we giggled and flounced our way between the trees and the gravestones. After a few short days, Spring finally arrived and, with it, a new load of images shot and ready to be edited. For a reason I still don’t know, these images were sadly nudged to the bottom of the pile, not to be seen again for another few months. Perhaps I should have waited five more months for winter to return before releasing this image, letting it be a little more applicable to the season. I think I prefer to have Christmas in July, though.
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