[SmokeInDaEye]

Originally Posted by backyardchef

After my mom passed away, all I could think about was getting outside and starting a fire in the pit-- I didn't need to cook, but just smell the smoke. In her last few days, I was putting a fire in a cooker just to have something to do....

Over this past weekend, I finally got the chance to load up the Klose with nothing but Cherry (here's to you, K.C.!) and begin my meditation sequence of throwing on the sticks, watching the smoke and taking a deep whiff from the stack every now and then.

That smell of wood burning is timeless-- transports me back to almost every fall evening when the fireplaces are roaring and you imagine everyone cozy inside...Long walks in cold, empty streets when that smell is the only reminder of life....

It transports me and my mind away from the day to day....and allows me to remember good times before and to have faith that there will be more to come...

I'm rambling and fumbling to say that I want to believe life (or something like it) extends well beyond the years we have on this Earth, and when that blue smoke rose against the setting sun, my eyes teared up for my loss, and that of so many others......for those that are lost or struggling. We honor them by keeping these traditions alive.

Whenever I smell the smoke, I know there is no way I could ever forget.......

Matt, that's truly an unforgetable sentiment. I've written and erased 10 lines now because I know I can never say the right thing, but your strength continues to inspire me and makes me want for more each day.

Oddly enough, after a long week of work and too many problems, I came home tonight to the smell of burning wood. All I wanted was to sit outside, smell, and reflect. Meanwhile my wife thought there was a house on fire...