Day 4-Summer Slips into September

As summer slips into September I wonder what fond memories my own granddaughter will remember as we played together in the summertime.  Will she recall her triumph when she learned to swim?  Or the day she could climb the tall ladder of the water slide leading into the pool?  Will she remember swinging on the swings and going around on the merry-go-round?  I hope so, but if she does not, her grandmother will remember with clarity her smiles of delight just as I remember my children's joys and some of my own as a child.  

Great Uncle Stan Hamblin

(A Memory from My Childhood @ 1966)

The pear tree stands tall in the front sparse lawn;

Leaves rustling and glistening in the sun.

With strong arms he climbs the ladder,

And with care he wraps the rope over the limb twice.

He uses a swing hitch knot

Leaving a spot for a sawed-wooden seat at the bottom.

My small arms stretch out wide as he leaps to the ground;

He places me gently on the wood as my hands cling to the rope.

Feet dangling as they move back and forth lifting me higher and higher.

Great Uncle Stan's face draws far from view then close again

While his smile grows wider and wiser 

And my giggles clear the branches catching on the breeze to heaven.

My grandparents, Grover and Jeffie Brown, posed in front of the pear tree

My granddaughter having the time of her life on the water slide