What is it about fire that fascinates man? By man I mean specifically the male of the species, not mankind in general. Women want to keep warm but aren’t too fussed on how. For men, tending a good fire is a symbol of their masculinity. In our guesthouse bedroom is a wood-burning stove. On average, Rob thinks about this fire every 60 seconds or so. He’s either starting the fire, poking it, just checking on it, adding logs, thinking about adding more logs, fetching more logs or thinking about fetching more logs.
Even the names of these fires are butch and manly. One has AMIGO in proud capital letters striding across the front. I am your amigo it says. I am your pal. Trust in me to keep your family warm. Rob and the fire are buddies. If he could, he would probably take it out for a beer on a Friday night. They could pat each other on the back and congratulate themselves on their extraordinary man-skills. It is a pure, true love.
I may sound like I’m mocking. The truth is, there really is something quite endearing and manly about a building a fire. And chopping wood. That’s pretty hot too. So maybe the fire and me will learn to be amigos after all. Me. Rob. The Fire. Together we are The Three Amigos.
