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| The Swing Set |
My
cousins had a sturdy swing set at their farm that Uncle Mick 'planted' in the yard…it
was built from scratch and hadn’t come in a kit. It was sturdy and never wobbled. It had a trapeze and two swings and of course
the grass was worn where feet, shod and unshod, had scuffed.
As Lorraine and I aged into the teens we
would each take a swing and exchange the latest chatter from school,
periodically yelling at our sisters if they came too close!....but before we were
teens the swing set was the world and the challenge was to traverse from one
side to the other without touching the ground.
Each of the cross bars between the legs were part of the trial. We had
to grab a swing and move from that swing to the next one and then onto the
trapeze and over to the cross bar. With
that as the stage the drama might be crossing a raging river without falling or
treetop to treetop in the jungle in Africa. AND of course we might be circus
performers flying high on the trapeze or hanging by our knees. Another day we crossed a deep canyon without
falling to the bottom.
And usually in
the midst of this play to faraway places there were squabbles, bumps, and
bruises and Aunt Lillian would call to come for some lunch (
mid-morning or mid-afternoon!) and then back to play.
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
