Upon returning from a weekend of adventures in Virginia, the very last thing I wanted to do was host and entertain a couple of teenagers, I don’t care if they are related to me by blood, but when Andy sent out the invite and the twins accepted, I couldn’t refuse and risk not retaining my hard-earned most-fun-guncle title. So it was that the day after getting home a little before midnight, after an eleven-hour journey with the bestie, I found myself cleaning up the guest rooms for Noah and Emi, who by our calculations hadn’t been over together for a sleepover since early summer, when the Island called to us…
That feels far away and quaint now.
The twins have been through a lot of late, but that’s not my story to tell – not yet at least – and I wanted to mark the new moon by sharing a burning ritual with them. We wrote down the various things we wanted to let go – all those nagging thoughts and bothersome habits we trick ourselves into thinking we need. Noah’s list was short – Emi and I had a few more to evict from our minds.
As we headed outside to burn them, a snow squall moved in, along with the accompanying wind. It made the burning ceremony a bit more difficult, especially for Emi’s list, which initially refused to take flame – a signal from the universe perhaps of how much difficulty she was having in letting certain things go.
Eventually, it began to burn – fire fighting against snow, rendering its small patch of space into water, burning a hole in the atmosphere and parting the weather like some religious prophecy. I watched the light dance on the faces of my niece and nephew, as snowflakes perched in their hair and on their shoulders. We agreed there was a new lightness that came with the ritual, then headed back into the attic to warm up before it was time for them to depart.
As we have entered the holiday season, I’ll put up the small, spindly tree I have for the attic, unadorned save for a strand of simple white lights, and start making that space a little cozier should the twins want to visit again, and indulge their crazy Uncle in his crazy rituals.
