WinCentral.org

Not once. Although once would be what any person hopes for in life really. Not once but three times. I fell in love three times; the year was 2008. Coleman and I reconnected, fourteen years after high school, on Christmas Day of 2008. Our first date was New Year’s Eve, the culmination of what can only be defined as fate. I wish I had space enough in these pages for that story too…but this verbose romantic has limited newsletter real estate on which to tell today’s story.

The bottom line? Well, that Christmas Day I fell madly, head-over-heels, overthe-moon in love with Coleman. It was as if that “thing” I’d always hoped for but could never explain when asked, “What are you looking for in a man?…well he is embodiment of it. I’d always wanted to live in Boston so I would often (happily) make the drive up from Connecticut to Winchester. He really enjoyed showing me around town and spoke highly of the school system. Of course I took this early dating “child rearing-school chat” as a sign of good things to come. Come on! What woman wouldn’t? We meandered through the Fells, lingered by the waterfall downtown and perused the volumes at the library. I’ll never forget the day he drove me past the library. It was breathtaking, its stone and ambience. One early morning a car service picked me up for an early flight out of Logan. It was still dark and the wispy late-winter clouds hovered as we drove past the clock tower of the Town Hall. I watched it through the window, peering through the frosty crystals of the crisp air that still lingered on the glass. I twisted around, chin on the seat back, so as not to miss a moment of its glowing face as it disappeared from sight. I made a silly, schoolgirl wish that someday I’d move here. It turned out I’d fallen in love a second time. Ah Winchester!

House hunting is exhausting!! But much like your true love: when you know, you know. When we left the open house that day I turned to him and said, “Whatever it takes, that’s our house.” We fought for that house. (Correction; Coleman fought for that house.) A bidding war ensued and he carefully crafted bids; he threw everything we had at it. When the call came that, out of nearly eight competitors, our bid had been accepted, I burst into tears and laid my head to rest in his lap. I had been so terrified during the process that we’d lose the war, lose the house, lose something I’d fallen in love with.

December 10, 2009: Thirteen months (and one Parisian marriage proposal) later we almost lost that house in a fire. More importantly, I almost lost Coleman. Even writing the words just now makes my heart ache and I fight the tears. Tears don’t “count” if they don’t spill over and run down your cheek. So I type and then look up at the ceiling. I never say those words aloud. The fire was caused by the dryer. I was in Connecticut for work but Coley was in the house. He suffered second-degree burns on his hand but has since recovered with his usual calm, although stubborn, grace (she smiles as she types). Two floors of the house have to be completely gutted and rebuilt. We’ve lost about 90% of everything and it’s not likely that we’ll be able to move back in before our wedding in early July. I’ve told the story so many times that the good “story-making details” are all but a blur. We’re in survival mode now I suppose.

We say things like, “It is what it is” or, “We’re just doing what we need to do;” sometimes (just to mix it up) we might go with the old “Everything happens for a reason.” These things are all true; simply the Reader’s Digest version of knowing we mustn’t feel sorry for ourselves. Now is not the time for such things— although a good cry every few weeks is nearly mandatory for me. Then, I gather myself up and get on with it.

Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Frustrated. Nervous…Lucky. I’m the luckiest woman in the world! Maybe you’ve already forgotten…but I fell in love three times in 2008! Fire nearly took two of them but—by the Grace of God—Coley made it out, and by the skills of the Winchester Fire Department, our home is standing. And my third love, Winchester, remains a constant, a comfort. The smiling faces at Swanton St. Diner, the Library, the Greek Grille, Starbucks, Imari and so many storefronts make each day a little brighter. Some people know of our challenges, most do not. The warm, smiling faces are simply the signature of Winchester: a caring community.

Melanie and Coley would also like to give special thanks to Koko Boodakian, Phoenix Salon, Sakura Restaurant, The Greek Grille, Scruples, Hair Salon, Simply Sophisticated Spaces, Soluna Garden Farm, Six Seeds Video, Spencer Photo and the Caci/Randazzo Team for their kind contributions to a recent care package.