The Swing

i can compare my entire adult life to a child's afternoon in a neighborhood park.  more exactly to a child on a swing.  i have sat in my swing through all kinds of weather.  rain, sun, snow, sleet...at times i have had others to push me to new heights.  some pulling me, using all their strength, pulling me backward and then lunging forward in a hurried rush, ducking beneath me and falling forward only to look back and smile in delight as they watch me soar to new heights.  those are the best of friends.

there were times when i left the security of my swing to push others.  not caring whether my seat would be there when i was done, not even thinking about it, really, because if i had thought it through i might not have been so brave.  those were the innocent times.  the times when i loved and trusted more freely, more naively.  before i learned there was always someone out there ready to nab your vacant swing.

the older i get, i seem to cherish my swing more.  i have become more controlling, not letting others push me so much.  i have also spent more time rocking rather than soaring.  head down, hands wrapped around the chains, i twirl and write things in the sand... and somehow i forgot what it was like to fly ...with time, i have become too cautious to enjoy the swing it seems... maybe it's time that i try the slide.  what a change that would be!