I love fall. You can plant things in the autumn months. Last year, I took two black walnuts and put them beneath the soil in my raised garden bed. They sprouted in the spring, and today, I took them out of the garden and planted them in our backyard. If we still have the house years from now, we’ll not only have walnuts to use in brownies or whatever else, but we’ll also have shade over the house in the summer.
Tonight, I built a fire in my homemade fire pit beside our house. I’ve been staying as close to the house as possible this week because of the dastardly Mexican tomato. It’s been a tough week.
There’s nothing like a cozy fire in the great outdoors on a chilly evening during the autumn months. There’s nothing a face full of smoke forcing you to move your position around the fire before you suffocate.
Tonight, as we avoided the pillar of smoke chasing us around the fire like an inside-out game of duck, duck, goose, Son #1 had a marvelous idea.
Son #1 and Son #2 were standing beside me, and Son #1 said, “Hey, Dad, let’s play a game.”
“Okay. Which game?”
“Well, you see, we have a fire here. We should play Shadrach, Meshach, and Tobed, uh, Tobedtoonago.”
“Um, how about we DON’T play that?”
“Yeah! Son #3 could be the fourth man in the fire. And Momma could play Nebu-could-never.”
“Um…”
“It’s just pretend, Dad.”
“Oh, thank God.”
So we pretended. Then, in no time, they were chasing each other around and not paying attention, and Son #3 was chewing his fingers and offering an occasional jabber. After a bit, we decided it was time to go inside before somebody tripped and sprawled headlong into the burning fiery furnace for real.
I stayed with the fire until it died down. In the stillness of the evening, with the sounds of crackling embers and the slight breezes swaying the branches of the eastern white pine, I remembered all the years before when I would sit beside a fire, never knowing how much delight my future wife and three boys would bring into my life. And I realized how blessed I am. I looked up at the stars, and I took a deep, refreshing breath of the cool, clear night air.
And I inhaled an entire column of smoke.
Ah, the (cough) joys of (cough) fall.
to my fellow inadvertent smokers,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 