Sometimes the fact that I write for a living, and spend so much time making sure I’m creative for everyone else’s posts, that I can’t seem to get into the groove of my own.

I literally started three different blogs today and just kept staring at the blinking cursor a few sentences in. I wasn’t feeling any of them.

I figured I would just start typing, as I often do, and see what happens…

5 minutes go by

I love the smell of matches. I was just looking at the candle I had burning earlier, and was thinking back to the smell when I first lit it. I usually just buy long lighters for my candles, but after venturing into an aisle I’m rarely in at Walmart, I found a box of matches and realized that for 97 cents, it was almost criminal not to buy them.

My son thinks they are amazing, too. One minute it’s a piece of wood, the next, a giant flame. He likes to blow them out, asking for “mo, mo,” which means more in toddler language, amused by such a simple concept.

A match is the quintessential definition of simple. It serves one purpose, it never fails (unless the box side gets gritty), and its shelf life is eternity. They never go bad, you never have to clean them or update them. They are just there, ready to go, whenever you are.

If you’re like me, you probably have an old matchbox from some random restaurant or wedding long ago in your purse. I don’t smoke, and can’t think of a time I would need a match out in the world, but I guess if I get lost in the wilderness, I’m set.

You know what’s going to happen every time you light a match, which can’t be said for every other appliance, vehicle, computer, phone, etc. you use every day. My Bluetooth in my car connected me to Verizon support for no reason the other day; my laptop decided I needed to update my browser before I could log in to anything this morning; my phone kept freezing when ads came up during my “I’m bored, I’ll waste some time on Flappy Bird,” moment; and my toaster decided that the “bagel” setting meant “burn” today.

But my trusty match will never give me grief. Finding the simple things that work in your life, is key. If a cup of tea and a candle make your night, then make those things happen.

This might not be the most prolific blog I’ve ever done. It’s really quite simple. But just like a match serves its purpose, if you needed five minutes of distraction, to clear your head or refresh, and my blog did that for you, then it’s done its job. Simply.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
-Confucius