So Easy A Caveman Could Do It

Men and fire are funny, aren't they? It's like a total caveman regression thing. They're all proud when they can make it (even if it DID involve some sort of propane, lighter fluid, or even a match) and then they're completely fascinated by it, for hours on end, feeding it, watching it burn...

What is up with that?

It's definitely a "guy" thing, because Blake, my 13 year old son, is totally into bonfires now that we've moved. He claims there's "nothing else to do" around here. Not that he's wrong, exactly. He took his bike out for a ride around the neighborhood, and he came back stunned and appalled, informing me, "I saw two cars on the road, Mom! TWO! Count them--one, two! That's IT!"

Well... yeah. At home, we couldn't go ten minutes without a car going by out front. Here? One an hour... maybe. Ours is not a well-traveled road, I must admit. Portions of it are unpaved, so I think most people try to avoid it if they can. Which is really not always a bad thing.

But Blake's suburban sensibilities were seriously offended by the lack of population and goings-on...until Michael showed him the bonfire pit. Yes, son, that's right, we get to start FIRE! Blake's eyes lit up and his jaw went slack as he gazed into the aforementioned pit, already imagining the blaze... I could almost hear the Tim Allen "Arr-Arrr-Arrrrh!"

So when it came time to start the fire, I stayed inside, dressing the little kids in long sleeves and long pants, spraying them liberally with OFF! and then gathering all the ingredients we'd need to make S'Mores. I let Blake and Michael handle the fire-making. When we finally got outside, there was a huge bonfire going, and both of them were standing aside, wearing gloves and carrying big shovels, looking smugly proud.

You should have seen them. Whenever their eyes met, I could almost hear them saying: "We make fire! Fire good!" And of course, Dmitri, the five-year-old, immediately wanted to throw a log on the fire and "help."

Me and Zoe?

We just wanted to cook marshmallows and eat chocolate!

Which is exactly what we did... until it got too buggy for us outside, so we went in, took a bath, got in warm jammies, and snuggled in bed, our tummies full of gooey sweetness.

The "boys" however, stayed out and tended the fire for a few more hours. While Zoe and I were dreaming about giant marshmallows and Hershey bars, they were out there burning everything their testosterone-filled heads could think of to burn...

When Michael finally came to bed, he gave a satisfied sigh and said, "Great fire!" as he drifted off to sleep.

So easy a caveman could do it, indeed...