Up in smoke...

  

It's the end of May 2013. 

Five years ago, I was still looking for a house to buy in Eugene, still working on the divorce papers and math, still not sure about my employment after July 31, 2008. 

Seven years ago, in late May 2006, my carefully crafted façade cracked and began to crumble, and I made a phone call to Rich Brown to get help. His business card says "LCSW" but I think that is pronounced /hero/. 

So today I burned my journals from that long dark time. Six books, filled with angst and heartache and hope and anger and despair, and back to hope again. 

I don't need those journals anymore. I don't need to reflect on the words I wrote back then. The lessons I struggled so hard to avoid have been learned and a new way of being is developing.

And to ensure a sweetened new life, I made s'mores from the flames of my past.

(Note to self: It doesn't take very much gasoline to make a fire. Not very much at all. And stand back when you toss the match... wwwaaayyyy back)