Who has memories of swinging your heart away on a tree swing? I know I sure do.
When I was a kid I vividly have these painted memories of being up in the field at my parents house and under a huge pine tree we had these two ropes hanging down and they were attached to an old tire which was my classic kid tree swing. I can remember walking up the hill through the overgrowing tall grass that must have been up to my weist and making my way towards the shade and my trusty tree swing was always there waiting for me to spend the afternoon trying to fly up to the sky. As I look back at those moments now that I’m an adult they really seem so much more then they were when I was 5 years old, I cherish them even deeper now then I ever did, it’s something so simple like a tree swing which has an everlasting effect on the way you in retrospect revision your own childhood memories making them last forever. They will always be embedded in your thoughts for you to look back on whenever you need….
So the other day me and Dali Man woke up bright and early and thought we would take a walk up the beach towards to Northwest side and explore that side of the island. As we started to walk up the beach Dali always gets so excited to find the coolest seashells and collected them on our journey always keeping his eyes open for the coloured ones that seem to shine so bright against the white fluffy powdered sand glowing as the sun reflects off them…”look at this one dad dad” as Dali holds up a little purple seashell so proud of what he just found like he just stumbled upon a hidden pirate treasure.
“That’s a cool one buddy” as I reach down he passes it over to show me, I notice how small his little hands are and how big his imagination is at the same second. “They even get more brighter when you put them in the water” I tell him, as he looks back up at me and then rushes over to the ocean grasping onto the seashell to make sure he doesn’t lose it, he dunks it in the salty turquoise water and all I hear is “wow so cool” …”I told ya buddy” I say back to him, “dad knows lots of cool tricks”
He smiles back and passes me the now brighter purple seashell as I tuck it in my pocket, and we keep walking………
I love being a dad
Then up the beach as we kept hiking you could see that the tide was out leaving the beach sand near the edge of the water so smooth like it had just been groomed perfectly flat by a thousand waves rolling in and back out, it’s the most perfect sand when that happens.
Dali Man marched ahead of me and as his feet tiny feet hit the sand each time he steeped they would leave the littlest imprints behind him making a trail like the journey he is now on.
Life always seems like a metaphor when your traveling, a story within a story as the little things are always near to keep you on your path.
As I glanced up the beach I could see in the distance two ropes hanging from a huge tree and an old wooden board attached to them….it was a tree swing..wow what a perfect spot on the beach in the shade there it was just waiting for you to create and capture all these new memories on…..
Im not surd who was more excited: Me or Dali Man
Dali started to run towards the tree as he happily yelled “it’s a swing dad dad”…i smiled and followed behind him as we marched through the sand togther.
“It’s a tree swing buddy” I said
“Can we go on it” Dali said as he looked up at me.
“We sure can Dali Man, we sure can”
So I lifted him up and sat him down on that old piece of board as his little hands wrapped around the rope holding on like he was getting ready to launch into space, I pulled back the swing standing behind Dali as he slowly was further and further up from the ground still squeezing those ropes with a claw like grip, when I finally had him high enough up I asked him “are you ready to fly dude”
Dali glanced back and said “I sure am”…no sooner then he answered me i let go of the rope and all I heard was ” O YA” “this is awesome” as the old wooden tree swing and Dali Man darted down towards the sand and back up again towards the sky like a rocket, I could hear him laughing all the way as him zoomed pass me again, and for that split second I knew exactly how he felt, so care free doing the coolest thing in the world that a 3 year old could be doing…. Tree swinging…….
“let’s go higher dad dad” he told me as he whipped by for the 5th time with what must have been the biggest smile on the island…”sure thing captain Dali” as I pushed him up again into the clouds…..
We spent a good 20 minutes playing on the beach tree swing as Dali flew back and forth over and over and over again, I was a kid too in that exact moment bringing back old memories and creating new ones in the same instant, we laughed and smiled and I pushed that tree swing until my arms were sore and Dali felt like he flew around the world and back 15 times……
We have been back to this tree swing many times over the week and it never gets old, it’s one of those amazing recurring things that kids love to do, can you really remember being a kid and what it was like? We have all these little snippets of life as we grow up that stick with us, like the first time I rode a horse, or walking home from catching the bus after school and seeing my parents waiting there for me as my mom would have supper ready and then I would go outside and play hockey with my dad until it was to dark to see, I’m unsure of why we retain and kept certain ones but they always seem like they are so close to you the older you get, maybe you see a photo of your 8th birthday party and the awesome He-Man Masters of The Universe birthday cake you had got and that triggers a flood of those old memorie playing like a familiar song right before you, it’s your life that passes by in the background blink of an eye without notice until you somehow unexpectedly relive it again, they always make you smile when you think of the good old days as they say, but that’s the thing, you’re living in those good old days now, these fleeting moments will be those stories for the future you, they will be the good old days sooner then you know it, so that’s why I try to make sure to appreciate every lasting passing second that comes my way….life sure is an amazing journey
Like a tree swing that’s always close by…
I think these moments really are like precious time capsules for us to hold onto that visually will never be erased from our mind, no matter where I am or how old I get I will always be able to dig out this tangible memory to look back on and relive it at any time we need to….that’s one of the biggest joys of being a parent…getting to create these moments for your kids…….and being part of them too…. .it never let’s you down that’s for sure
So here’s to memories old and new and all those little things we do……
Cheers from the east side of the world everyone, I hope today brings you something awesome too
Dan Tam and Dali Man
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Sig Nordal 