Burn Baby, Burn

Building a fire is like anything else in life. You have to work at it. I’ve been living in upstate New York for several months and have been experiencing a fireplace for the first time. I just assumed that you piled wood, lit a match, and allowed things to run its course. Not so. Trust me, it’s a workout.

When I stand in front of the fireplace—not too close of course—it feels like the heat is giving me a body massage. It’s like you’re wrapped in a warm blanket. It’s great when the temperature drops or there’s a slight chill in the air. I’ve been told we can continue to burn a fire until the end of March or beginning of April. It depends on the weather. And we know how that’s been going.

Letting Go

The past few months have been difficult. Too many things happening at once made it harder for me to stay focused. My mind was filled with non-stop chatter. So I decided it was time to work a little harder at getting quiet. It’s one of the hardest things to do, because worry and negativity take center stage.

At times I wanted to sink my teeth into a big piece of chocolate frosted cake, a pint of ice cream or a bag of candy. A friend who is also going through a bad time was doing the same. We would sit and discuss what we were dealing with and eat all the wrong things. The good thing is that were able to acknowledge that we were stress eating. We laughed about it, and then vowed to handle things differently.