Today packages began to arrive. The first few days after the fire I did not want to own anything. I suppose it was a psychological reaction to loosing things. As time passed, I missed things. As a bit more time passed, I wanted my life, not necessarily the one I had, but a life that was not shuttered in and flanked by fire.

I unpacked the boxes and it suited me to arrange things on the bed and just look at them. As I unwrapped each item and placed it with the others I could feel my kitchen emerging. I had selected a few new things that I did not have prior to the fire. These I viewed with curiosity and satisfaction. I did not replace the detritus that builds up in the kitchen over the years. You know the stuff I am talking about; the things that hang out and you forget they are there, where they came from or even what they area supposed to do. These things—whatever they were—I left consigned to the cleansing fire.

I took a deep breath and faced the replacement items. When I opened the box of my new All Clad bowls I truly did not grasp that they were not my former All Clad bowls. I held the bowls close to my chest and the curtain of time shimmered and I saw the linkage between our past and the future we are building. I wondered if this would happen often. I hope not or I will be worn out all the time. But for today, it was good to have the old merge with the new.