the fragrance of home

A lone candle flickered on the dresser.

Before I even stepped through the doorway,

I was enveloped by the faint scent

of raspberries.

Or rather, Colonial Candles of Cape Cod's

version

of raspberries.

And for just a second,

I could've sworn I was walking through the front door

in our Fort Smith home.

~

Once upon a time,

in a life far, far away,

I was a Candle Lady

and we had a nearly endless supply of scented wax.

Raspberry was Tyler's favorite fragrance,

(Spiced Plum was mine)

so I was sure to keep plenty of those on hand.

Every most work-days,

Tyler would arrive home

to find a candle (usually raspberry) burning on the stair post.
(oh, how I loved those stairs!)

He said when he pulled into the drive

and saw the flicker of light,

he knew all was right 

in our home.

My mom always ran to make the bed if it hadn't been made yet

as my dad was pulling up the drive;

we ran to light the candle.

~

It wasn't on the stair post

and he sure couldn't see it from the drive,

but this evening

 I lit one of our few remaining raspberry tealights

to welcome Tyler home.

I hadn't expected it to welcome me home, too.