the swing

 The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

River and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

~ Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)

I love pretty stationery and cards. When I saw this card, I had to buy it because it brought back a very special childhood memory.

My grandparents had a tire swing hanging from a huge tree in the side yard of their farm. Whenever we visited, my siblings and I spent hours on that swing, caught up in the excitement and freedom of flying high above the ground. We loved the feeling of soaring through the air, even if our flight occasionally ended with an abrupt crash into the tree. That never stopped us from chasing our goal of touching the sky. We would swing from dawn to dusk, carefree and completely content to stay somewhere between earth and sky.

That’s why this card spoke to me. It reminded me of visiting my grandparents, when joys were simple and adventure found in ordinary places all around their farm. Some memories never really leave. They wait for something as small as a beautiful card to bring them back.