IRENE’S LAMPS
My maternal grandmother, Irene, died after being bedridden for a long period with lung cancer during my ninth summer. Born in 1885, she was 78 years old. I have only a few memories of her and my images of her are based upon a few grainy photographs. I spent a lot of time with her and my step grandfather while my parents worked on our farm. I do have vivid memories of her horrible biscuits and her feet. Her big toes curved sharply inward and under the next toe. And her house had no electricity.
One of my fondest memories is of straightening her big toes. Because she no longer walked the toes would remain in proper alignment for hours. The first time she looked at her feet and saw the straight toes she yelled, “Pet (short for my mother’s name, Petrenella) come look and my toes.” After the initial shock, a good laugh was shared by all.
Her house was heated by a fireplace and a wood burning stove. Meals were cooked on another wood burning stove as well. When the sun began to slide over the horizon, kerosene lamps were lit to give light for the evening. It may sound romantic, but it was not.
Kerosene is an oil obtained from petroleum. It is used in lamps and in jet fuel. Four things were required to light my grandma’s small house, the lamp, a wick, a match, and good quality kerosene. “To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.” Mother Teresa. A lamp, wick, and match were useless without kerosene.
You, my dear friends, are the lamp, the potential to light your path and the path of others. Our life is the wick and the desire for good for self and others is the match. You can burn your wick for a little while without oil, but you will soon burn out. You can burn it for a little while with bad oil. Bad oil produces smoke and an odor. Your light will only be as good, strong, and bright as the oil you put in.
Kerosene that becomes contaminated with water or debris burns horribly or not at all.
What kind of oil are you putting in your lamp? Here are a few suggestions that I am trying to embrace. Choose reality over denial, self-love, temperance, clarity over fear, respect, and kindness for all and most of all purify the oil with quietness to get rid of debris. I think practicing these will give me/us an endless supply of good oil.
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---“Even a single lamp dispels the deepest darkness.” Mahatma Gandhi
What beautiful and clear images. I felt like I was in your grandmothers house. I could see her and smell the kerosene. You are a word artist.
Thank for lighting the way through your writing. - Sherleta