Waxing Melancholia

Isn't it funny sometimes how something so simple can set off a chain of memories?  Today was a burn day, and you know how I love a good burn.  We're still doing a lot of clearing around the property, and I have spent several days going through a lot of boxes, etc. since we've been cleared from our rental house once and for all and everything we own is now up at our new home.  Today we cleared out a number of boxes from underneath the car port to make room for the new riding lawn mower, and I placed them on the fire.

The box you see in the front of the pile is from my Sony Dream System.

It was the first major purchase I bought after I started my internship year.  I can still remember going to the Best Buy on North Avenue and being so excited carrying the box out to my car.  I got home and carefully set everything up in my living room.  All the wires were color-coordinated and made set up so easy.  Popped in that first DVD and relished in the ear-shattering "the audience is listening" THX surround sound.

Back to the box.  The system was so well packed, that this box made the move from Chicago to Boston to Minneapolis to St. Paul to Buffalo then cross-country to Northern California.  It was one of the boxes that I always carefully stored and kept from move to move.  And, today, I finally burned it.  It actually brought a bit of a tear to my eye thinking that it had made it through the last, almost 10 years, and would not longer be needed... that it had made it to the final move... that I'm finally home... 

Burnt Offerings

I don't know why, but I get very excited whenever we have a burn day.  With all of the vegetation clearing we have been doing on the property, we have piles of limbs, leaves, briars, etc everywhere.  I want them gone.  So, whenever it's a burn day, I am up on the property starting my fires as soon as I get up in the morning.

Since we're also in the process of trying to move up to the house, I have also been carrying boxes of paperwork (receipts, bills, etc.) from prior moves that need to be burned.  You know, the kind of things that have personal information on them, and you just don't want to throw away in the paper recycle bin.  So, I've saved them... for a while... like several years.  And, now, I am in the perfect position to get my fire started and destroy personal information in a convenient manner.

Anyway, I was looking at the pile of papers I had pulled for today's fire lighting, and casually glanced from time to time at what I was actually putting in the fire.  Hmm... car payment bill... glad I don't have those anymore.  Here's the receipt for one of the many credit cards that got me into trouble... no more of those to worry about since I only have one department store card (with a limit of $100 at that), and all my other cards are debit cards.  I tossed in the flight information from one of multiple cross country trips to see my mother.  Soon after, in went the orientation materials from my residency in Minneapolis.

We were sitting around discussing memories of Christmas recently, and I remembered being so broke at one point in Minnesota that I had $0.45 in my checking account.  The decision going home that night was to spend my last $3.00 in cash on gas, something to eat for dinner or a small bag of cat food.  I bought a dollar in gas, got the cat food, and had just enough spare change in the car to add a can of Spaghettios for dinner.  That experience definitely made me more financially responsible.  Thank, God, for residency meal tickets... they helped me make it through until pay day.

So, today, I started seeing my burn day as an offering... I gave thanks for the ability to not have to worry about gas to go to work, feeding my cats or myself, and for not being financially irresponsible and adding extra debt to my life... of course, don't talk to me about my house and remodel... we'll call that an investment for the future...