Holidays serve as a point of reference.
It is difficult if not impossible to pass through the Holidays without some sort of review of our lives. Such reviews are often comforting, but they also unavoidably remind us of chronically endured pain. The first man I ever loved I never trusted. We were together more than three years, but were finally forced apart by my insecurities. I would accuse him of cheating, spy on him incessantly, and blow up every time he glanced at another woman.