The Swing

I spent much of Father’s Day out on our deck, sitting on my dad’s swing.

This is one of my most cherished possessions.

My mom, brother, Doug and I gave this to my dad as a surprise Father’s Day present many years ago and he loved it so much. Every spring he could hardly wait to bring it out of the shed and place it in the corner of the back yard.

We spent hours on that swing…talking, laughing, solving all the world’s problems, listening to music, and visiting with friends and family.

Here is Dad blowing bubbles with Josh. You can plainly see the  swing in the background. He obviously fancied it up way more than I do 🙂 (Thanks to my cousin Sarah who captured this particular moment in time).

This is Dad and Julia sharing a moment on the swing:

That little girl was the light of his life. My big, tough dad would melt like butter in a hot frying pan when his only granddaughter was in the room.

 My cousin Johanna, who was visiting from Michigan:

This is my dad’s older sister, my Aunt Dot showing off all her fine jewelry:

I’m not sure what Julia is so unhappy about in this next photo with her childhood playmates Jessica and Justin, but clearly, she was not pleased. Jessica is now a college student and sweet Justin lost his battle with leukemia eight years ago when he was only six. He was such a bright light and had the sweetest spirit of any little boy I have ever known. He will always be missed:

Josh and Grandma are enjoying the shade after playing some basketball. (Little known fact: my mom was a star basketball player in high school):

I love the look on Josh’s face as he talks to Grandma. They have always shared a very special bond:

The following photo is the definition of exhaustion. Their cousins Tom and Molly had visited that day and they had played hard:

This is Aunt Dot and me with the kids. My hair hasn’t been that short or that dark for many years: 🙂

My Aunt Dot (who clearly loved the swing as much as my dad did!), Aunt Audrey (who was married to my dad’s older brother Bob), and my mom. We lost Aunt Audrey last year at the age of 89.

 Rewinding a few years, here is our dear family friend Voni holding Josh, who was around 6 or 7 months old. It’s not very clear in this photo but for the first year of his life, Josh had a wild head of curls. We called it “Kramer hair” after Cosmo Kramer of “Seinfeld” fame:

My cousin Sarah was visiting from Maryland one summer:

I have absolutely no idea what Josh was doing here. He had borrowed my dad’s walking stick and his grandma’s straw hat. For some unknown reason, he was also wearing a Yankees outfit. Clearly Doug (who is a devoted Red Sox fan) was not with us during this trip to my hometown. He would never have permitted such a travesty!

After my dad died in 2002 and my family and I moved to south Florida, my mom sent the swing with us.

Just seeing it on our deck brings back so many wonderful memories. I feel close to my dad when I use it and this past Father’s Day was no different. The swing now overlooks the mountains rather than the backyard of my childhood home, but the sweet memories remain.

“The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you ever had.”