objects, material things and me.

it’s funny how we acquire things, how material objects make their way into our lives. i was having dinner with a friend the other night. as per my usual weird, clandestine self, i had a mission for later in the eve that i needed to do/wanted to do and was obsessing about completing:  a rogue “trouble with lisa” stickering attack. destination? the local, rad skate shop of which i am a big fan. i like their brand, i like what they do in the community and i wanted my blog sticker somewhere on their property. delaney said sure, of course, she would drive. her car was, um…full of…stuff. her grandfather had died a couple weeks before and she had just arrived back from helping to clean out a lifetime’s worth of belongings and memories. as i got in the front seat, she handed me a box. in it, parts and pieces of her grandfather’s life. i felt lucky. i felt sad. i felt heavy. i couldn’t wait to see what was inside.

the box contained what you might expect from a man born in the 30’s: photographs, a knife, old-timey binoculars and lighters: lots and lots of lighters – zippos, my fave. i love zippo lighters. i have a thing for them. i’ve long known about vietnam soldiers engraving theirs with pithy and terse sayings as a means of comfort as they confronted war and death in a far, far away land. now, sitting in this car on some random street in austin, texas, i studied each in the box with contemplation and care. delaney told me to take one, her only caveat that my choice be without her granddad’s name or initials. i understood her request and was happy for the direction – and honored that she would let me have something of his, someone i never knew, yet someone so dear to her. my fingers instinctively found and wrapped around a vintage zippo, camel logo on one side. its rounded edges were comforting, the patina, perfect. i fell in love. i knew it was the one. it was mine.

i will never know the man to whom this lighter belonged. one can only guess that because of its well-worn condition, it was a favorite of his. i can use it. i can light someone’s cigarette with it. i can tell someone the story of how it came to be with me. i can appreciate it. i can appreciate that once, it was someone else’s and that it found me, i found it. i like when things come easily, when events seem meant to be. it’s in these moments that the universe conspires with us, for us, because of us, and magic happens. i’m hoping stories like this will continue to abound for me this year. i’m looking very forward to lighting your cigarette, too.

©littlebrownbutterfly