Two years ago my brother Jim noted how much Micah enjoyed the tree swing that he had brought up to camp for his grandchildren to play on. It was suspended from a pine tree in front of the cabin and was sturdy enough to sustain Micah’s 200 plus weight as well as his vigorous use of the swing. At the end of our stay, Jim kindly gifted Micah with a new tree swing that he had brought up to replace the older one that had taken a bit of a beating from Micah and the other children and adults who enjoyed playing on it. It was a lovely gift and I fully expected to have it hung and in use for Micah shortly after we returned to New Hampshire. It was a good plan that just did not happen.
We live in the woods so one would think that we would have plenty of trees to choose from to hang the tree swing from. That assumption was wrong when I realized that I wanted a tree close to the house with a branch strong enough to hold the swing and Micah who is an exuberant tree swing swinger. When we built our home in 2000, we cleared all large trees around the house. I found as I looked more closely that I could not locate a suitable strong tree that was close enough to the house to allow me to monitor Micah, but not need to be right next to him while he was on the swing. The trees that I thought were suitable were deemed to have too soft wood or were too near large rocks that would be dangerous to Micah or other children if they fell off. The months clicked by and I forgot about the swing tucked away in the shed as winter set in. I did not give it much thought again until the next summer when we headed back to family camp and I observed Micah once again enjoying the tree swing that his uncle had provided for family fun.
Embarrassed, I had to admit that Micah had not been able to enjoy the gifted swing as I had not found a suitable tree to hang his swing from despite the fact that most of our property is woodland. Family members made suggestions such as hanging it from our barn if no suitable tree was close enough to the house to monitor him when swinging. I returned to New Hampshire after camp determined to get the swing set up, but once again could not find a tree that seemed safe and sturdy enough. Another fall and winter went by and the reality of heading to camp again this summer having to admit Micah’s gift was still in the box was enough to get me out scouting the property once again with determination to either find the ideal tree or devise a hookup of the swing to the barn.
Lo and behold, waiting two years had helped the oak tree adjacent to the front lawn to expand and thicken it’s branches and if one looked up high enough, there it was, the perfect branch. The only obstacles were several branches that needed to be cut below the chosen branch and the need to clear the ground of rocks and prickly bushes below the chosen branch to make the area safe. Dean was concerned that the branch was up too high, but he helped with the tractor work to clear the ground to make it safe. Micah’s brother Ben agreed to come over to use the chain saw to take off some of the lower branches that had to be removed to provide access to the larger branch above. Ben’s willingness to take on the chain saw project was tested with the challenge of cutting off branches with the chain saw while holding on to a ladder. He did receive a minor cut which, by the grace of God, was not much worse as he worked to help clear branches. His injury was a wake- up call to the dangers of the project and led to the determination to only use a hand saw to remove the other limbs that had to come off before we could suspend the swing. The next obstacle was that we did not own a ladder long enough to reach the limb to secure the canvas ropes that would hold the swing. Fortunately, we have a neighbor who has his own painting business. He was very willing to allow us to borrow his extension ladder which was just tall enough when fully suspended to reach the chosen swing branch. A few hours later, with Dean and Ben both on swing project duty, the swing was secured to the branch and ready for take off.
Completing the swing project probably should not have taken two years, but the smile on Micah’s face as his brother pushed him on his maiden ride on his tree swing made the months of searching, setbacks, and minor injuries all worthwhile. At last Uncle Jim’s gift is in full use. Come by if you want to test it out, Micah’s swing brings smiles to all who take a ride.
Jan Lessard Peightell June 21, 2023
The Micah Lens 