My Front Porch Swing
First let me say, this photo isn't my swing. I found this one on google. I might wish mine looked this good, but alas, it isn't mine . My swing needs paint and new cushions and then of course, I'd need to paint the porch and then the yard would need some work to match the down-home invitation of this one, so you see, this could never be my swing!(Way too much work!)

I was just out there laying in my swing, watching the breeze tickle the tops of the towering pines out in the field, listening to the frogs and crickets singing their evening prayers down by the pond and reflecting on how much I have really enjoyed this Mother's Day gift from my husband and kids several years back.
When my dad was really sick a couple of years ago and we knew that each day was bringing us closer to having to say goodbye, I spent many a night grieving in that swing, letting it rock me back and forth to sleep. Just lying there in the dark, watching the stars twinkle and talking to God and giving him my thoughts and sometimes a piece of my mind about how unfair life could be, that old swing calmed me down enough to creep back into the house and into bed and finally get the rest I needed. It feels like when you were a child and you were in your grandma's lap being lulled to sleep by her rocking and the beating of her heart.
That old swing has been used as a place of refuge to many of the children that have visited. A place to come to when he fell off a bike and scraped his knee, a place to sit to contemplate just why you shouldn't hit your sister, a place to sit and read a book with Nana like "Little Toot" and "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle". A place to tickle your mama and hoot and holler when you get tickled back. A family kind of place.
I love that old swing, even though it needs new cushions and sometimes smells like sweaty children, even with all the dings and scratches and where someone once found a pocket knife and tried to scratch his name in it.
I came home from work the other day and there was the neighbors cat sitting there, like he was "King of the Swing". Maybe he feels like I do. I just love that old swing.