Swings of my Life (aka Weekly Writing Challenge: A Few of My Favorite Things)

This week’s writing challenge is about a few of your favorite things. I have a few favorite things… a book, a bear, a paintbrush, an amazing pair of shoes, a family quilt, but after some thought my choice has to be my swing.

I’ve swung on a front porch swing all my life. Actually, I’m a third generation front porch swinger. My papaw grew up in the house I live in and spent countless hours swinging or rocking on the porch. My dad and his siblings did the same thing. Now, my brothers and I have spent our lives thus far swinging on the front porch.

I can remember three swings total in my lifetime (23 years), but I have no idea how many have hung on this porch over the last 80 years. I wish I did and could tell you all about them, but I don’t so you’ll have to settle for the swings of my life.

The first swing was my Papaw’s. I was 4 or 5 years old from my earliest memory. It was winter time and the porch was huge then. I walked with Papaw through the long winding house and the room that always had the door closed to get to the porch. That room was icy feeling on my feet and usually gave the shivers. We would open the big white front door and walk out on the porch. It had screens all around it… a little room all of our own. The paint was peeling and there were lots of treasures my mom called junk, but my favorite was the swing. It smelled like pennies and old pillows. Papaw would sit down on the cushion first, holding the swing steady, then let me climb up next to him. Our cushion was really just an old blanket, but that didn’t matter to me. I would snuggle up next to his chest, resting partly on his left leg and partly on the scratchy orange pillow I loved, and we would watch a little black and white TV. The screen didn’t come in all the time, but it was ours. It always seemed to be showing Andy Griffith or the news. I liked Andy Griffith best.

In the summer time, we would get a bucket of vanilla ice cream off the back porch, fill our glasses with crushed ice and orange juice, grab two spoons and make our way to that swing. So many happy memories.

Jig of the Morning in Music (aka Weekly Writing Challenge: The Sound of Blogging)

This is a poem pulled from a post last year. As soon as I read the challenge, I knew this poem was the PERFECT thing to do for sound. It was originally written to music, so an updated version put to music is exactly what this challenge is about.

To hear the poem, press play on the video and follow along below with the voice. You can also watch the video first. It will recite the poem with music and give you a visual of these flowery dancers.

The lyrics/words are below.