The Perfect Swinging Tree

Peanut -

Today The Pickle got to experience one of your favorite summer treats.  The tree swing!  YOUR tree swing!  Deeeeeeeeelightful!

Long before Dadda and Momma got married, we spotted the tree in our yard that would house that swing. Dadda declared it "a great swinging' tree" and we imagined our kids swinging from the branches.  That first spring with you - your only spring - we ran out on the first warm, sunny day and found your Little Tikes swing.  Electric blue, fire engine red with sunflower yellow straps...just the sight of it made us smile.  Dadda promptly headed to the side yard to that magic tree, secured it on a chain, and plopped you in the seat for an afternoon of swinging...that led to a full summer of swinging.  Even on the hottest summer afternoons, The Perfect Swinging Tree provided shade, cover and the right amount of cool breeze.  You would grin, laugh and kick your feet in delight while the swing rocked you back and forth and back and forth.

Last summer The Perfect Swinging Tree sat alone, empty in the yard.  The chain from your swing hung limp, barren, waiting for someone to attach a swing and the little boy who went with it.  Momma couldn't bear to even walk under the tree since it had lost its purpose.  Its joy.  Its raison d'être.  The memories were simply too sharp.

The swing was transported to Grandma and Grandpa's house, along with your pool float, high chair, stroller and many other items.  And there it sat in the basement, covered with a large, translucent plastic tarp.  Until yesterday.

Little by little we've been bringing your items back home to share with The Pickle.  Rather than sadness, we now see joy returning to these items.  We feel you sharing with your little brother, touching his life in ways only an Angel Brother can.  And this morning, while The Pickle got his first taste of The Perfect Swinging Tree in your Crayola colored swing, I watched a giant orange butterfly wing across the side yard, through the branches and over Momma's head.

"Hi Peanut!"

You are here, swinging right along with us.  All the time.

I love you, Peanut.  To the moon - and back!
- Momma

Peanut, June 2010

The Pickle, June 2012