The uncovering of our 170-year-old fireplace has set off a wave of nostalgia for the good old days. The fact that neither of us is old enough to remember those days has not deterred us. Once we restore the fireplace, we figure, we can add a quaint wood stove. A rug for the hearth. A Windsor rocking chair.
But the call of the quaint and primitive has not stopped there. Slowly a plan is forming in Joe's head, a plan by which we renounce the evils of modern comforts, such as electric lighting and gas heat, and return to the ways of our forefathers. We could, he proposes, use the wood-burning stove to heat the whole house.
"If gas prices shoot up," he said, "we'd be all prepared."
His fondness for candlelight may, I fear, turn into a resolve to eschew the wonders of electricity and use only candles (Birthday Cake Vanilla, with sprinkles) to light our home.
"But this is what our forefathers struggled for," I protested. "They fought and bled and died so we could have a better life -- a life with electricity and toasty warm furnaces.
"If we turn our back on all of this," I said, "their sacrifice will have been in vain."
He appeared unmoved by our forefathers' brave sacrifices.
I fear the direction this is headed. Wood-burning stove. Candles. Can an outhouse be far behind?
2 comments:
Oh Princess, I have heard this kind of reasoning before, and it strikes fear in my heart. My own, once reasonable daughter who left light bulbs burning even when she vacated a room, who insisted that the thermostat be turned up to a billion on cool evenings, who left the water running while brushing her teeth now grows vegetables in her garden, never uses the air conditioner, and has several mirrored candle holder-wall sconces in her abode. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that I know her not anymore...Beware!
Oh! Let not the Hero hear of it!
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