Five thirty five in the afternoon, I sat on the blue, plastic swing. The sun was past its highest peak and the wafting, warm breeze from the west gently tangled my short hair with its touch. I watched scenes of a sparse tree line being the foreground to the delicately painted horizon of baby blue and the warm colored heat of the sun's glow. Sounds of spring peepers and the rustling of chipmunks at play surrounded me. This was my place.
I recall receiving the whole wooden castle from the neighbor's backyard; their daughter had grown up some time ago and the wooden piece had been forgotten in the growing grass field of the backyard. The neighbors one day heard the slowly rotting playset call out,"I want to play with someone!". The matter of the lonely playset was then fixed by giving him away to myself; the young girl next door who had no kids to play with because the two houses were situated on a county highway. I adored the presence of the timber playground in my backyard; my fondest memories consist of my relationship with this playhouse: having tea parties with my sister in the warm July shade, avoiding hot lava spills underneath its monkey bars in an intense game of "rescue mission", and my father flying beneath me in an "underdog" fashion. The swingset was not just a place of happiness, it was a safe haven for my thoughts. I have one early summer in particular I still vividly remember.
I recall the sun, bright and white, high in the sky as I ran tears streaming down my cheeks. My mother had yelled at me yet again for fighting with my sister about what we were going to play that day. Bounding at full speed to my swing, I flew onto the worn, cream tinted seat and cried. At the age of eight, I tried to understand why my mother would take my sister's side. "I hate her," I mumbled over and over, hoping that mother might hear one of my cries. Spinning gently around, the twisting ropes holding the swing, I planned how I would run away.
Ingenious ideas, such as hiding in a friend's basement forever or taking my bike with a backpack full of supplies and Penny, my teddy bear, to my new life with the cousins in Illinois. I would stay at that spot and try to cool down out of the rage I had built up around myself. As I pondered the life altering descions I was about to make, I gazed across the street through a small wood line of pine and heard the calls the majestic and cranes and geese in the swamp. Smells of lily of the valley, a small white flower with an airy scent, filled my senses; along with the calming touch of the shadows from the oak trees and a kind, forgiving wind.
The sight of the moment changed my thoughts completely. I began to think of "What would I do when I grew up?". Envisioning pictures of future me was displayed in many ways: I was an exotic zookeeper to magnificant beasts, a creative artist with the skills of modern masters, but my favorite was a passionate musician who was free-spirited. I imagine my hair, light as leaves, with both dark and light streaks running through it. I was tall and graceful; able to catch the eye of any person and enchant him or her with my smooth and charming personality. My music woudl be popular and I would only sing and write songs that made me happy. My family made up of a husband, also a musician, and three children: two girls and one boy. We would live on the beach and appreciate life's natural beauty everyday. I would always have my father and enjoy the times when I was his little "tom" girl. My mother would be very close all the time and we would be best friends. My sister would be so proud of me and she would know I am lucky to have her.
Right at that moment, the blue F-150 slowed in front of the house and eased down the driveway with my father inside. Mother called from inside the house to signal dinner and my sister burst through the front door to greet our father as he opened the truck door. Escaping from my distant reality back to the present, I nonchalantly allowed the swing to release its comforting embrace as I headed inside my home. "Glad to see you again today, I'll be here anytime," said the wooden playset once more as it watched the door shut.