My kids love to swing. We are very fortunate to live next to a park so we can swing and slide anytime we want. All of my kids have been swinging since they were babies and usually want to swing every time we go to the park. Abigail is quite the aficionado now and can pump her legs to swing all by herself.

So tonight we went for a walk and ended up at the park once again. While we were there I saw the most intriguing thing. A grown man was sitting on the swing…and he was trying to figure out how to swing! I had never seen a grown man that couldn’t swing. I commend him for trying to learn in front of a bunch of strangers.

This sight brought many thoughts to my head. Like, how do you teach a grown man to swing? It is natural movement to me now after having done it for 25ish years. Luckily, my wonderful husband was around and he tried to help, and he was great at demonstrating how to do it.

Another thought was, why hadn’t this man ever been on a swing? Growing up we had a swing set, not the fancy ones you see today, the kind that starts tipping if you swing too high. After that was gone my dad made some swings and tied them to our trees. I have many fond memories of swinging on those swings. Swinging gives you the feeling of flying and freedom. All the worries just go away somehow when you’re swinging.

By the end of our stay at the park two men had had their first try at swinging and it was truly fascinating. I know I should probably have some spiritual analogy to go along with this but my thinking is not quite that deep tonight. So feel free to share your own in a comment.