Are You A Candle Person?

I have a friend who always has candles burning at her house. Even when she had three kids under the age of five, she’d have candles going in the kitchen and in the living room. She’d leave them unattended (by which I mean, she’d leave the room while they were burning). She had candle parties. And I’ll admit, I always liked the way her house smelled – the candles were definitely doing their thing. But somehow the candles I’d buy would just sit there.

It’s not that I don’t like fire, either. I really do. (That sounds odd – I’m not a pyromaniac, or anything, but I definitely understand the allure of a flickering candle.) And yet…I can’t bring myself to light a candle and then leave it burning while I go about the rest of my day. The what ifs are entirely too many. What if the wick randomly sparks and an ember breaks off and flies out onto the scrap of paper that’s just too close to the candle and then *foom* up goes the house. Those what ifs. Maybe it’s silly. Maybe it’s just that my parents did too good a job instilling a healthy respect for flame. But I can’t light a candle and simply let it be unless I’ve got at least one eye on it at all times.

Over time, I managed to talk myself out of buying those oh-so-delightfully-scented sirens of candle yumminess. (Yankee Candle…how do you make your candles smell so good?!) It’s silly, isn’t it, to have them sitting around but not burning? Does a candle feel sad if it’s not used? Like it’s not living up to its potential? (Over anthropomorphizing things is a downfall of being a writer, did you know?)

Until I had to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get my son a new comforter and those just happened to be across from a pumpkin-scented extravaganza of candle-y goodness. We sniffed. We considered. And ultimately a pumpkin spice candle leaped (of its own volition, mind you) into the cart. And you know what? We’ve actually been burning it. It’s probably burned off half of its size already and I can almost–almost, mind you–leave it burning in the kitchen (in the middle of the stove where I figure a flame can do very little damage) and turn my back on it for a few minutes without having a panic attack.

I may never be one of those true candle people. But I’m enjoying this little venture. Are you a candle person?