Taking down the swing set

[coriolis]

Today I took down the swing set that was in our back yard. All the rides were broken except the slide. It was rusty and full of bugs. I was about half way through and my 7-year-old son, Dillon came out to see what was going on. He said "I really liked that swing set." I explained that it was rusty and broken, and one leg actually broke off as I was pulling it out of the ground. I went on that we might be moving anyway. He seemed to accept my reasons and went back in the house.

That made me start to think about the swing set in our yard when I was a kid. It was a swing set, it was a space ship, it was a school bus, it was a zoo, it was all kinds of things limited only by our imaginations. We would swing fast to make the legs "pump.' We would put our bikes up on the slide and try to ride them down. Our slide was located under big old crab apple tree. When the apples ripened and fell, there would be hundreds of rotton apples on the ground and thousands of yellow jackets to contend with. I remember one time I was climbing on top of the swing set, up on the top bar, and my pants got stuck on a bolt. I was helpless! My oldest brother heard me and came out and lifted me off. I don't remember when my swing set was taken down, but it is long gone and so is the crab apple tree.

After I had the job done, I called Dillon out again and started up the conversation again. I said, "This is the end of a time in your life, are you sad?" He said "Well you know, Quadir did fall off it and got hurt. I guess it was time."

So I got to relive my memories and feelings. This didn't seem to bother Dillon too much, but maybe someday he'll have a chance to relive his.

[streetsoldier]

After our swing set broke, my younger brother and I took the remaining "A" frame, dug a hole deep enough to partially bury it, covered it with canvas and dirt and made a "bunker" out of it...complete with "escape" tunnels, hidden gun emplacements and a periscope. Rather enterprising for a pair of nine-to-ten year olds...

And there was no OSHA to tell us we couldn't.

[coriolis]

Ahh, for those years, when life was simpler. Of course if you and your brother had come under attack, things would not have been so simple.

[streetsoldier]

Actually we "did"; other neighborhhod kids came over to "attack" with their plastic M-14s or FN-FAL rifles; a few had M1903 Springfield "mock-ups" that shot little cork balls.

We made "tiger-trap" ditches, had our own "weapons" (plastic grenades, a metal-and-plastic PPsh machine-gun and my own P-08 Luger, both cap-firing), and in general, had a ball with them.

Kids today? They have no idea what they're missing....the power of imagination seems "lost" on them.

[JetMaxx]

I remember my little sis and me would go camping in the back yard when we were kids....and to us it was the deep woods, even though we were only 50 feet from the back porch...with a chain link fence around the yard.

It was a big adventure...just as the nature walks at school were. Today it's just a small stream running through the woods adjacent to the elementary school....but in the 4th and 5th grade, it seemed like we were on a science research trip, seeking out spiders, insects; elusive tadpoles, salamanders, and even occasional minnows. We were less than 500 yards from our classroom-- but it seemed like we were miles away.

Those were such great days...when everything we did had the potential to be an adventure, and the future seemed limitless

[breeze]

My brother and I made teepees from bean poles and tarps...
we were the Indians fighting the Cowboys...LOL...I agree with
soldier - no imagination in kids, today...if it ain't Nintendo or
on a computer program, they can't even imagine anything else!

[Miss Mary]

Ed - we finally gave away our kids swingset a few months ago. Laura (13), our youngest, rarely, if ever used it. It just sat there making it hard to cut grass around. Once it was gone it was sad - the end of a chapter. It was just a simple wooden set, with 2 swings, one horsey swing, one chin-up bar. And not in good shape, it did take a beating! I always wanted a deluxe one for one girls - never happened! Always wanted a playhouse for them too - never happened! I like to tell them when they have kids someday, this Grandma (to be mind you) will be very generous - I will buy that playhouse yet. The things you want for your kids but never quite find the money for them. Sigh.

Feel for you - when ours was coming down, I had flashbacks of Jim putting it together long into the night. Took longer than he thought. And we allowed Nina (now 16) to stay up late so she could swing on it. She thought that was the neatest thing, next to Christmas morning - her parents were letting her stay up past her bedtime. She was 4 then. Ah, the memories.

[azskyman]

Ed...you hit a soft spot with me, and indeed your moments taken back in time were great to share with us. They remind all of us of times gone by...and while for Dillon it is now a chapter's end with little attachment, he will surely someday remember it.

One of the neat things about moving away and then going back to your hometown, riding by your old homesteads, is that the mind kicks into full gear with memories of people, places, even weather events, of days gone by.

My sons are both great at reminiscing already. They love to talk about simple events that made their childhood special. We can laugh and cry for a couple of hours just rekindling them.

Life was simpler then..it really was. But there are plenty of good memories taking place even in 2003.

When Emma was visiting on the 4th of July, I moved over by the fan switch, looked up at the ceiling fan and blew at it. I flipped the switch as she looked upward and off that fan went!

We repeated that simple cause/effect exercise a dozen times over the weekend. Then off she went to her home in San Diego.

I got a call from Jason a few days after. It seems Emma had been looking at the ceiling fan...in anticipation of him blowing it to get it going. Lo and behold, the magic happened.

Our childhood, however sad, troubled, or humble, is still a boundless source of snapshot memories of people, places, faces, and events.

Thanks for reminding us of the importance of that.

[Miss Mary]

Speaking of simpler times, swingsets, etc.: anyone remember swinging gates? Our local park had a great playground. The bouncy, spring loaded horsey's, animals, the merry-go-round that you were so afraid to let go while riding on, but also it had a swinging gate! Oh I loved that! There was usually a line at the gate. Nowadays, playgrounds (parks, schools, etc.) just do not look like anything we played on! Seems some of the old playsets, contraptions, were unsafe. LOL I'm sure they were, but oh so fun too.

[Stephanie]

I remember my swing-set in our home in NY. It was white and blue. There was one itme when I was sitting on it with a friend and there had been a wasp's nest (unknown to me at the time) built inside the top metal pole that created the A-frame. One came down and stung me on the neck. Th

When my younger brother Daren was a toddler, he loved to swing on the swing. I remember as an "older sister" always pushing him on it.

I don't think it was that long after I was stung that it was taken down to make way for our 4' above ground pool. The swing had done it's deed anyway, and we were all alittle too big for it, not to mention the rust on it.

[Pro-Storm]

I need to take down the swing set in my yard as well.....kinda hard though when my 6 yr old girl is still swingin'!