Coveting the Embers...

"...the traveler sat down by the side of that old man, face to face 

with the serene sunset; and all his friends came 

softly back and stood around him…"

- Charles Dickens: The Child’s Story

When we were kids, we spent part of our summers in Canada. My father took the month of August away from the church to the woods of Central Ontario and the crystal-clear waters of Lake Joseph. These were memorable family times. There were no phones and no television; we just had each other.

The family property sat along the southern shores of Whalon Bay. Along that shore was a broad and bare granite rock that gently sloped to the water. It was a perfect place nestled in the woods to safely build a fire near the water's edge.

We weren't the only ones on the family property during those times. There were cousins with their own places on the sides of the bay and folks that often dropped in. When a campfire was announced, plenty of family and friends appeared to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows on small tree branches. While the fire warmed everyone, it was only the vehicle to bring us together. Sharing our lives with one another was what really mattered. 

In those days, I learned that the combination of graham crackers, Hershey's chocolate bars, and crispy marshmallows made the addictive treat called s'mores. The name suggested it all. One couldn't (or didn't want to) eat just one but wanted 'some more!'

Eventually, on those chilly Ontario nights with clear starlit skies, the fire would begin to burn down, leaving embers that were enough to please the eye but not quite enough to stave off the night chill. Folks would drift away one or two at a time to places of rest, satisfied with an evening well spent. When I was the last to leave, I would watch those embers until they were nearly gone, pulling my jacket closer against the nippy night air. Finally, water bucket in hand, I would douse a soft glow, leaving blackened ashes, the residue of a once brightly lit fire.

While these events are, by now, distant from my past, I've been thinking about those campfires lately, metaphors for the brightly burning glow of life that has warmed me all these years. I've thought about so many people with whom I spent time, sharing experiences, hopes, and dreams – remembrances that brought warmth to the chill of the approaching night air.

Some of those people who gave the fires of my life so much meaning have drifted away, and others are preparing to retire to their places of rest. And yet the embers still burn. They are not so bright, but still so meaningful. 

I am reminded by the quote of Lénonor d'Allainval, my life has been (and continues to be) "L'Embarras des richesses" (an embarrassment of riches).

I'm counting on the embers of my life to continue for some time. But I find I'm pulling my jacket a little closer against the impending night air. 

- ted