for the love of a dad

When I was ten years old, I leaned over a candle at the dinner table and my hair caught on fire. I was trying to see my mother’s earrings. (They were white and red, in case you were wondering). I survived but parts of my long hair did not. I also got a stern lecture from my father on the importance of stop-drop-and-roll. Apparently, in the heat of the moment (pun intended), all safety protocol went flying out of my ten-year-old brain, and I took off running (which, I was told, was the worst thing a person can do when their hair is aflame).Fast forward to now: my hair is fine (if only I could light the grays on fire!), I still remember fire safety 101, and my love affair with candles is still going strong.

When I think about it, candles are at the heart of the big moments in our lives (even if those moments involve hair). Weddings, birthdays, in grief and in love, we honor and memorialize our life with the small dancing flame of a candle. To acknowledge a holiday tradition, or simply to create that reliably gentle, warm ambience, candles and the tiny fire they ignite help us tell our story. They give us pause to stop and think, to take in the sights and smells around us. What else has the ability to transform a regular Thursday pizza night into a candle-lit dinner?

At Spring Street, I can always find a candle to brighten my day, to transform, inspire, and relax me. From our Mer-Sea candles that smell divine (and also double as decorative serving dishes once the candle is burned down), to our JaxKelly Crystal candles with their surprise gemstone and empowering messages, to our Market Street Candle’s Shanghai Dragon Candle, whose ceramic jar looks beautiful even when the candle isn’t even burning-- I can always find what I’m looking for.

So, indulge yourself in a celebration about you. We can always find a reason, even if it’s just because it’s a regular Tuesday. Or maybe you were only five minutes late to work instead of ten, or because the kids are healthy and the internet works for the moment...(or because the dog got away with only eating one pound of bacon before he was busted, instead of the whole two pounds...but I digress). Or maybe you just need to celebrate a childhood memory of your dad grabbing you with hands as strong as the world as you sprinted past him, wrestling you to the floor, and bare-handedly snuffing out the inferno on your head. And the real lesson you learned from it: that a blazing hair fire is no match for the love of a dad.

And after all, are we really that different from candles? Don’t we all have the power to transform ourselves and each another, to light the world in some way?

I think we do.

Wishing you peace, health, and happiness,

Chappell and the Spring Street Team