I felt the snow crunch below me as I made my way to grandmother. The pillowy blankets of white now held a pattern of footprints. I felt the biting cold creep into the soles of my worn, cheap sneakers, but I didn’t care. It was worth it every time I got to talk to grandmother.

The soft, eerie glow of dusk lit a haze among the other stones of the graveyard. The towering oaks seemed to stretch the prickly arms out toward me, like they wanted to console me. I wasn’t sad though, not anymore. I just…missed her.

The path toward the main mausoleum started to become icy. I pivoted my direction towards the granite headstone of “Marvin Less 1890-1921,” he was my first marker. The sting of the freezing granite touched my fingertips lightly, the usual greeting we had every time I passed him. I give the stone a subtle nod before passing the second marker, “Judith Clarie 1958-1962.”

My heart sank just a little. I can’t really help it. Reading that always makes my chest tighten. I bring my ungloved hand to graze over her name. From distance, I could have sworn I heard a hum of a lullaby, coming from the song-song voice of a child. Nothing new. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch a bit.

As I somberly pass Judith’s stone, a harsh icy breeze slams right across my cheeks. I dug my face into fleece scarf hugging my neck. After it eased up, I scrunched my face to shake off the cold. A few blinks later, I brought my gaze toward my final destination. A marble headstone, framed with decaying ivy, marked the name of “Lilith Decker, 1932-2022.” I took a short sigh before brushing the ivy and some snow off her stone. I greeted her with a smile. The marbled gleamed in the distant street light from my previous path. I took a beat to breath in my surroundings once more, a chilly inhale. Though the environment was crisp, and freezing, it was still somewhat inviting. I felt a sudden warmth swell within me. “A wintry bliss,” grandma used to call it.

Maybe that’s why, I never felt somber in the cold months.