This week I burned down a pumpkin spice candle. The date on the\nbottom said 2006. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s kept a decorative candle\nfor years. It\u2019s moved with me to several homes, but this year<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I burned it all the way down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the year I\u2019ve learned to appreciate candles. I\u2019ve\nburned down quite a few during the quarantine. I had forgotten about the little\norange pumpkin candle, but after the other scented candle ran out, I found it\nand set it next to me on the desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a friendly thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lighting a single candle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My daughter has gotten in on it. The supermarket had some\nbig fall candles and I brought a few home. I\u2019d say the scent could be dialed\nback 2 or 3 notches, but Veronica loves it and lights it while she is doing her\nschoolwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw the candle growing smaller in its glass jar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She asked \u201cWhere does it go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt burns away. You can\u2019t really see it, but it becomes\nsmoke and floats away on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We stared at the flickering flame together. It was a quiet\nfeeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Candles have been companions to worried people for a long time.\nThey doesn\u2019t ask for much. They put out light<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warmth<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kindness <\/p>\n\n\n\n
maybe Hope<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That little flicker is known all over the world as a prayer without\nwords<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the hope is too fragile sometimes words are too heavy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the imagination is too rusty and life is too rigid to conceive\nof another way, words don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can light a single candle. I don\u2019t even have to know why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It helps. And I am grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week I burned down a pumpkin spice candle. The date on the bottom said 2006. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s kept a decorative candle for years. It\u2019s moved with me to several homes, but this year … Continue reading