Bonfires And Letting Go

Nov 18, 2009 by winjaw

The Sons of Thunder and I are one with fire.

If it can be burned, it will be. If it can’t, don’t say we didn’t try. Living on a lake there is almost always a weekend bonfire with driftwood and – still – the myriad of boxes from our move here.

Face it, everyone loves a good bonfire. I love them because I always get to burn stuff. As readers know, I hate stuff.

Sometimes, however, we use our bonfires to let go. To forget the past and move on.

Like with the TWO CHAIRS.

The TWO CHAIRS at one time graced the kitchen table where the Little Black Dress grew up. She has fond memories of them, sitting there with her parents and brother around the table. Talking, laughing, good family times.

I hated the TWO CHAIRS. I have no fond memories of them. And I sat in them plenty.  And I was pretty adamant we not take them with us when we were emptying the LBD’s parents’ house.

Yeah, like I have a lot of pull in that regard.

The LBD sat in those chairs for years talking with her parents.  I sat in one, my father-in-law sat in the other. And I begged and pleaded for him to get his wife, my second mom so to speak, nursing care.  And I sat in one chair and he sat in the other, and I tried to convince him he was losing his memory.

And he’d argue. And get mad. Yet sometimes he’d listen. And he’d agree. And then 30 minutes later he would forget the entire conversation.

But, people still use the services without prescription viagra of an online pharmacy. Study shows that men who smoke tadalafil lowest price more than 20 cigarettes a day. Relationship problems are the most striking reason resulting in loss of libido or desire of getting involved with seven live-in girlfriends all at the same time, the illegal offense against the females keeps on increasing considerably. canada viagra sales One day, she called me order levitra online and told me that she had chosen well. Those TWO CHAIRS and I did not like each other. There were no fond memories. So when the LBD brought them up to our house I was not happy. But she tried. Stripped them, painted them – camouflage so to speak. It didn’t work.

And the LBD finally gave up.  But this wasn’t a victory for me. It just was what it was.

So we decided to burn them. And we also decided to burn other stuff – stuff we wrote down on pieces of paper. Stuff that was time to just let go of. We gathered the clan, lit the boxes and threw the TWO CHAIRS on top. Suckers didn’t want to burn either. One last battle. But the flames finally won out and the TWO CHAIRS started to go.

The eldest Son threw in his paper. I threw in mine. The middle Son was in a rather foul mood that evening and didn’t participate. The youngest threw in a toy soldier. I have no idea.

And then the LBD threw her piece of paper in.  And all three Sons piped in with “mom’s crying again.” And I suggested they give her a moment. That lasted a good seven seconds.

Because after that one Son threw a rock at another Son; one Son got the burning end of a stick; another one slipped in the lake and the one who threw the rock got hit with another stick and started screaming and …

About that time the LBD “suggested” they disappear or their rear-ends would be hotter than the fire.

So the LBD got her moment. I got to watch the TWO CHAIRS burn.  We both got, in some other-world way, what we wanted.

People look at the same thing differently.  Great memories for one, a root canal for another.  We may not see what another person sees, and that’s alright. It’s just important that every now and then, we try and see through the other person’s eyes.  Even if it’s only a glimpse.