The Scent of a Candle

 I have bought candles over the years because I like the idea of them especially if they have a scent to them. Unfortunately I have been terrible at lighting them so they often sit around forgotten and gathering dust. Whenever I do thing to light one I always think how lovely it looks but then I forget to do it for ages.

I bought myself a scented candle at the fete last Friday as I wanted to support a local business and yet not spend huge sums. Tonight I actually got around to lighting it and thinking about why I might not usually do so. I think one of the biggest things for me is the sense of saving something for "good". It is an old fashioned notion that I have acquired from the older generation in my family who had to live through a depression and a world war and who had every day items and special items. I can fully understand the reasoning behind it but now that the transience of life is really staring me in the face I realise that it is easy to never use the "special things" and miss out on so much pleasure. 

I have to ask myself. "What am I actually saving it for?".

I really enjoyed having this simple thing give me so much to ponder. I was surprised by how much scent emanated from this little candle and it actually smelled really good. It is hand made with natural ingredients and the woman who makes them is happy to refill the jar with a new candle once this one is used up. The simple act of striking a match and using this new item has given me so much pleasure for something relatively inexpensive and there are still many more lightings of this candle ahead before it runs out. I am going to make an effort to do it more often and get the maximum pleasure out of the money spent!