Sitting at the wooden table, I pause to light a pillar candle before starting to write. I searched for a month to find them, not realizing they are becoming extinct. They’ve been replaced by battery operated ones and I have one used as a nightlight, but it took time to find a local store that still carried the real ones.

It didn’t surprise me to find them on the Target website and a few were available in store. My daughter met me there because we know it’s dangerous to roam through Target alone, so we help each other maintain control over purchases.

When I was ready to checkout, there was a young man standing at the counter to ring up my purchases. He was mesmerized by the pillar candles and paused to look at one while rolling it around in his hand. He said, “I’ve never seen these before. Most people buy the ones in jars, but I like the plastic sleeve.” I told him about the pillar candle, but didn’t have the heart to tell him the plastic sleeve was for protection during shipping and to remove it before using. I still feel I should have included that.

Gazing at the glow from the candle takes me back to my childhood and how Mama never had candles burning for no reason. The only time I recall seeing candlelight was if the power went out during a storm. Mama had a drawer containing leftover taper candles from Christmas, so in that moment of temporary darkness the house was aglow with candlelight. I was disappointed when the lights came back on because she’d blow them out and return them to the drawer for safe keeping.

Mama didn’t know you could light a candle for the pure enjoyment of it, but I figured that out somewhere along the way. There’s a candle in every room of this little lake house and I love to light them on cloudy days. Darkness will flee with the strike of a match to light the wick of of any candle, but especially…the pillar candle.

Feature Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash