Someone gave me a present at the end of last year. I don’t usually receive Christmas presents, largely because I don’t give them, but this wasn’t really a Christmas present, it was a gift of a different kind. It was a small, folded cardboard tube, tied with a thin, tasteful ribbon and accompanied by a written note.
“What I wish for you,” said the note, “is that you leave behind all the things you need to leave behind, and start a new year with a light and unburdened heart.”
That sounded pretty good, if a little low on practical instruction. Wait, there was more. What I had to do was make a good, strong fire, then throw the cardboard tube unopened into the inferno and watch as whatever was inside burned and the purifying flames liberated me from the past and nudged me toward a new beginning. Now this is the kind of thing that in others would cause me to quietly roll my eyes, but this wasn’t for someone else, this was for me and, while I don’t believe in magic, I do believe in the pleasures of symbolic acts and the galvanizing force of intention, so last week I dug up some firelighters and a pair of tongs and went outside to the Weber.