Yesterday’s post was pretty morose and depressing. I’ll be the first one to admit it. So I thought I would turn things around a bit and write about something a little more positive. My wife’s birthday is coming up in a few days, and I was trying to decide on something nice that I could get her. Given the current state of the world, going out for a night on the town is still out, although we’re getting closer to being able to do so. I found myself looking at alternatives and trying to think about things she may have mentioned she’d enjoy having.
I came up with an idea that would unfortunately require that I tell her what her gifts would be. This is mostly because I would need her input to ensure I got something she would specifically want. My first thought was to get a fire pit for the back yard. We’ve been talking about having one for a while and we avoided getting one because we believed we would likely be selling the house and moving in recent years. Since that’s no longer the case, we agreed to get one. Although I wanted to get one that connects to one of my propane tanks for ease of lighting and use, the small wood-burning pit is still wonderful and serves its purpose well.
It only took a few minutes to bolt the whole thing together, and we had the chance to blaze it up last Sunday when we had a friend of mine stop by for a coulee of cold ones. The photo above is of the shitty fire Nathan and I lit yesterday so I could snap a photo. I was out of wood and all I had were small brambles. It was pretty much out within ten minutes. But Sunday’s fire was mint, and lasted for the better part of an hour.
During my teen years, I spent countless evenings on local beaches with a fire burning, a few of us with some acoustic guitars and snack, crooning to easy music and simply enjoying the peaceful bliss of relaxing by a fire. There’s something soothing about the crackling flames and the warmth it projects while you connect and chat with good friends. I predict we’ll be making great use of this bad boy throughout the summer.
You may have noticed that I said “gifts.” My second thought was to get her a chaise lounger for the backyard. This could mean that on afternoons when she isn’t working, she can sprawl on the deck on her lounger, read a good book and even light a fire. If she chose to do so. But since it’s for her comfort, we’ve been shopping around to try and find something she’ll really enjoy. Sometimes, looking for what you want can be half the experience. ☯
The Blogging Buddhist 