Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Firepit

My husband and I recently bought one of these:


We've only sat around it one evening so far, but it was heaven. It's almost like camping, which I LOVE, but not enough like camping to put off my husband who hates the idea of laying on the ground, being dirty, and being sucked dry by mosquitoes. So we have settled on a camping-like experience with our fire pit.

It is the greatest invention ever. We set it up in the middle of our backyard, threw a fake log in it, started that baby on fire, and then commenced with the marshmallow roasting. My husband refrained from eating marshmallows because he's unamerican and instead just drank a tall glass of whiskey and Dr. Pepper, his favorite drink. Me? I'll take roasted marshmallows over a drink any old day, the more burned and cancerous, the better. My one great carcinogenic excess.

It was a nice Knoxville evening, more brisk than usual. If I closed my eyes and ignored the abundant Dogwoods around me, I could pretend I was back in Michigan camping with some friends up in Manistee National Forest.

But there are some benefits to being here in Knoxville and to sitting around that fire with my husband and my husband alone. We talked a lot. If you know my husband, you know talking is secondary to observation and silence for him. But he talked and that was nice. A fire is good for coaxing words out of someone. It helps that long silences are perfectly acceptable in front of a fire - no pressure on anyone to fill the smoky air with anything but the rumpling of a plastic bag to pull more marshmallows out.

Yes, firepits, marshmallows, and talking husbands are all very good things. The money spent on that thing was well worth it. Friends, come over soon and sit around it with us. After several drinks, Michael may just get down right wordy.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Down right wordly or dirty? Blynn

Molly said...

Wordy! Wordy!

Anonymous said...

liek emily p from SNL used to say "never mind" ;)

Unknown said...

The kids and I bought one for Brian for Father's Day and I completely agree. It totally rocks! The kids love it too. We are a smore's family. Marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate...can we say heaven on a paper plate! After the kids went to bed Brian and I sat around with a bottle of wine...mmmmm wine. I miss wine. I think that when I have the baby I'm going to tell everyone to forget the slily flowers and bring me wine....maybe not to the hospital. That might be kind of tacky. But anyway, you get the point. Fire, smores and wine along with a talking husband...you are right, good things!

Molly said...

Yes! It's such a good family thing. Michael and I sat around it again last night and I drank too much champagne.

I will buy you wine after the bean comes. I have about five or six bottles of wine and several bottles of champagne in my house, so I told a friend of mine I cannot even think about getting pregnant until I've drunk all of it! (That's not really why we're waiting, but it's funnier to say that.)

Nik said...

Oh you are living the dream. It's too COLD here for fire pits. It has already been close to freezing temps at night although it warms up a lot in the day. Maybe in June. Or when we visit.