Life Lessons from Making Fire

Can I tell you what I got for my birthday?

In case you're wondering, NO, it's not my birthday🥳. It was a few weeks back, but I got a pretty cool gift. I got a fire-pit!

For me, that's very exciting because I've wanted one in my backyard for awhile and now I get to find out what all the hubabaloo is all about. That's hub-ba-ba-loo!

It's not fancy, it's simple. It holds wood and it comes with a stake for me to push the wood around. I'm not the most outdoorsy guy. So getting a fire-pit like this, is perfect for my first one. Plus, I'm sure Cari wouldn't want me burning anything down (fire is cool btw). I don't know much about starting a fire, but what a perfect way to start just in case I find myself in the "real" outdoors and in need ot finding shelter and creating fire from the elements around me. Can you tell I've thought about that much?

I bought some dry wood from the local Ace Hardware store nearby and now I'm ready to make the fire. I quickly look it up online, because obviously, there's more to making a fire than just having some wood and a match, right? When I asked siri "Hey Siri, how do I start a fire?" It responded "Now playing We didn't start the fire by Billy Joel". After I listened for a few minutes because who doesn't love Billy Joel, I finally go the search I was looking for. I need some starter wood called kindling. Little fiber like pieces that can be easily burned to get the fire started. Then you have to add some twigs, smaller pieces of wood to keep the fire going, then you can put a log on top to keep the fire going.

Seemed simple enough. I went in search of my kindling which was easily found nearby. And some twigs which I got in my neighborhood. And off I went to make my first fire for my new fire-pit.

Kindling burning, check!

Twigs burning, check!

Wood burning...wood burning...wood burning???

For some reason the wood wasn't burning. I went and found more twigs and then some bigger ones and bigger ones and for some reason the wood that I bought didn't actually burn. Why not? Who knows. The internet says maybe it's because of the moisture, maybe I left it outside too long, maybe it didn't dry enough. All I wanted was for a fire to burn so I could eat some marshmallows with my wife and make some s'mores.

The result? We had some burnt marshmallows that tasted halfway decent, no s'mores and hair that smelled like smoke because it kept getting pushed in my direction. Oh joy! You'd think I'd be upset with the result. You'd think I would have wished for a better time or better tasting marshmallows. And the answer is yes, I did think that. But it was over shadowed by the amazing time I had with my wife.

You see prior to making a fire, we had a very nice dinner, with some very nice wine. We were feeling great and took the 2 person party outside. During the mediocre fire, we had a great conversation about the day and shared some amazing dialogue on things we learned, new books we were reading, thoughts on life, etc. Crazy! So cool, that we kept going until the "non fire" died out.

What's the lesson in that?

You never know what your experiences are going to be like until you actually experience them. Sometimes, we create our own stories in our brain and decide ahead of time about how we're going to feel. We believe the story so much that it's really real in our brains even though it hasn't actually happened yet. Had I followed my brain about how the night was going to go and then gotten upset that it didn't go the way I planned, I would've missed out on a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my wife. Instead, by staying in the moment and allowing life to happen, I was able to experience life for myself and the true reality it gave me.

So the next time you're about to head out on an adventure, run an everyday errand, go to work or do a simple chore; let reality play out. Then before you tell yourself the story about what just happened, notice your entire experience. Be aware of everything around you and see how amazing it all is. And if you can't do that, then borrow my amazement from an innocent fire that decided not to burn because it knew it would be a part of creating a larger experience of spending some time with my beautiful wife.

Cheers,

JG