At what point…

Posted by: Jessica on: January 26, 2009

• In: Fear | Fire | Life
• 9 Comments

did this become a good idea?

Let’s examine some of my fears. One of the top 3? Fire. Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire. Scary stuff.

There comes a point in my life that I feel the need to tackle a fear. Today wasn’t one of those days. I’m really ok with my fear. I’m pretty good with a firestick. You know, the long handle with that you can click to light up? I don’t do matches. I tend to panic and fling. Never a good combination with matches.

So, I walked into my house today after picking up Jack and going grocery shopping to realize that the electricity has been out for over 2 hours. Ok. No biggie. Until I noticed how stinkin’ cold it was in here! I called the electric company, and the lovely automated response told me it should be back on by 5 pm. Hmm…it is going to get really cold in here without any heat.

So, I decided to build a fire. In the fireplace (just to clarify). This is the second time for me to attempt this. I tried yesterday, but failed miserably. Like a flame and lots of smoke. I had wood in the fireplace and put two firestarter doo-hickeys in there. I light it. Hmm…a flame. Not really warm. In fact, I’m pretty sure the house was getting colder because the flute was open and letting in cold air.

Ok, it is time to approach this Aaron-style. I’m feeling brave and grab the BernzOmatic Propane tank. I know I’ve seen him do this before, but I can’t remember exactly how. I look to read the directions on the side. Basically, it was a bunch of warnings about putting this thing near an open flame. Hmm…I continue on.

I grab the lighter and contemplate this whole using the propane tank to get the fire going in the fireplace. Then, a flash. No, not my hair. It was a female flash. No, not a menopause hot flash. It was me kind of floating outside my body looking at myself holding a portable propane tank in one hand and a lighter in the other next to a smoldering fire.

At what point did this become a good idea??

Perhaps it is the extreme levels of testosterone that is in this house? Whatever it was I quickly put the propane thingy away and began approaching the problem like a woman that is afraid of fire. I held the firestick as far away from me and kept lighting those fireblocks. The result?

Woohoo! I made fire! Do you think the cavemen “woohoo’ed” when they made fire for the first time? I tend to believe so. Have I totally conquered my fear? Nope. Am I ok with that? Sure. If I didn’t have the fear, I’m pretty sure I’d be in the hospital right now with no hair and 2nd degree burns.