Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Red Swing

Once upon a time, in a land of pine trees and rain there was a thing of glory.  She was red, and she was large, and she called to the children with a song of beauty. 

Try as they might, the children could NOT ignore her siren song.  They were drawn to her and her promises of fun and happiness.

What could possibly attract the children like moths to a flame?


It was

The RED Swing

She was a thing of engineering beauty.  All clever in her shape and cintrivical motion.  She glided smoothly, raising the children HIGH in the air, or low to the ground. 
This "swing" was probably built and put in here sometime in the 70's.  It works with gravity. You get them going and one side flies high in the air while the other is low, and it can get going pretty darn fast.  The kids could NOT get enough of this swing. 


Even when they were told NOT to go down there without an adult or older kid...we would find them there.  You should have seen Owen jump off the swing when he saw me drive by.  I made him get back on, 'cause that pic was too cute.  But still, they KNEW it wasn't for them to play on without grownups.  In fact, several of the kids had been "grounded" from going there.  But, have I mentioned the lovely and loud SIREN song that the red lady had?  She couldn't be ignored.


Maggie really enjoyed the swing sometimes.  Others...she was afraid.  It did get scary if it was moving too quickly.  Because underlying the loveliness of her song was a menacing tone.  There was most definitely a dark side to this lady. 


So, imagine the scene with me if you will.  

It's late afternoon, early evening.  We're all about the cabin, people playing games in different corners of the porch.  Others laying on couches reading.  While you could hear children here and there laughing and playing.  It was serene and peaceful.  All of the sudden you hear screaming, and it is not your usual playful scream, or even a usual someone got a little hurt scream.  It is ominous, and the fear trickles down your spine.  You hear the 7 year old kids yelling "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH."  You look down the road and see Owen running for all he's got, screaming "Morgan, she's not breathing."  I swear I heard someone say "Morgan is dead."  There was terror and crying.  We all jumped up, rushing to the edge of the porch, trying to hear and see what is going on.  I was sure we were gonna find Morgan in a bloody heap, unmoving.  Instead, next we saw her, running straight armed, screaming and crying, COVERED in blood (to which my first thought was, halleluia, she's gonna live).  First Breckyn bolted down the driveway, gathering her up in her arms, followed closely by Dixie (Morgan's Mom) who scooped her into her arms and ran straight uphill to the house.  Morgan was COVERED in blood.  Her face was nothing but blood and dirt.  It was awful and so disturbing.  What were we gonna find under all that blood?  The stories we were getting was that she fell off when the swing was at the high point.  She fell face down into the dirt.  Some of the kids were so traumatized by seeing the fall and all the blood they couldn't stop crying.

Luckily...Morgan is ONE TOUGH COOKIE.


After much wiping and cleaning, we were relieved and blessed to see that she suffered from only a smashed nose and split lip.  No lost teeth, no broken nose.  Just A LOT, A LOT of blood.


Holy cow noses produce copious amounts of blood.

The good news is....she survived in one piece, and nothing broke.  AND, her genius Daddy Shane got ALL that blood out of the clothes.  He deserves FAT praise.

While Morgan was being tended to, the menfolk ran down to the swing and tied it off.  It was the end of play time. 

The red swings siren song had been silenced.

Why do I even share this story with you?  Because as Morgan was being cleaned, my 12 year old nephew Cooper came in and said to me:
"I trust that you'll be using your awesome blogging skills about this?"

How could I ignore that? 
I'd been challenged, and complimented in one breath...it had to be done.

Awesome enough?


Dramatic screams and bloodied faces,


Allyson

6 comments:

Dixiechick said...

That's my baby. She is one tough cookie for sure! :) SOOOOOOOOO glad it was just a bad bloody nose. So so so so so so glad. My stomach may have dropped to my toes and I might have said a bad word. Maybe. :)

Aimee said...

WOW!! I am sure that experience scared all the kids and they will be obeying all you adults (at least until the fear wears off). Gosh thats crazy. I would have flipped out if they came screaming "Morgans dead..."

Noses do bleed a lot in relation the their size. Glad she was ok and that the swing is roped off.

LOL @ the blogging comment...fantastuc

erin said...

oh my gosh i know her!! the fam came into my work! haha crazy. poor little thing. good thing no teeth went missing....
my sister got her 2 front teeth knocked out waayy to early from flipping forward on her bike. those suckers werent seen again for like 4 years haha!

larainydays said...

She'll talk about this when she's a grown woman. These are the memories that grow with the years.

DianD said...

Awesome enough!!! Sad to say, the first thing I said as we all stood gawking at all the blood, through all the tears, is, "Jody, get the camera!" After all, it was Greer 2010 and Morgan will one day know that when people talk about "all that blood" we weren't just whisteling "Dixie." It was for REAL! :) So So So So So glad she's one tough cookie and she was pretty much healed for pictures!

The Atomic Mom said...

So is that your family's swing or a community swing? I cannot believe how much Morgan looks like a Shumway...well duh, Dixie is, but she has the family look.