I began writing a series on the lost living room and its re-awakening. I was asked to put it on a more public platform, so here it is. I will try for frequent postings as long as I feel like it. If you will subscribe to the site you will get daily notifications. The following article is not the first of teh series but I will catch it up as time goes by Please share at will. Thanks, John
The Thanksgiving Fire
I said, “Bob, You’re a lot older than I am. I’ll build the fire.”
He replied, “You’re a whippersnapper, John. You don’t build a fire, you ‘lay it on.” He paused while he walked to the bookcase and got his special matches.
“John, can you lay on a fire that will start with one match?”
I thought about it, “Most of the time.”
He looked at me seriously, “Most of the time ain’t good enough. A well-laid fire will start with one match. Every time. I’m 92 years old and I’ve been laying on fires for many years. I’ll light the fire, you have my permission to bring in the wood. Get it from the dry stack by the kitchen door.”
Now, not many people can call me a whippersnapper, and I don’t haul wood for just anybody, but, since I was only 73 and the youngest man in the room, I went for the wood.
I watched as he laid on the fire. He has turned the task into an art form. He worked slowly and carefully. And he lit it with one match.
The living room is where you find it,
Rules of decorum and respect apply,
And you create your own nostalgia.
John P. Schulz: Find The Living Room 