It happens every time. I probably pass the Corinth City Park (Tennessee) at least a dozen times each week. And every time I get this uncontrollable urge to stop. Nope, I'm not on some sudden fitness kick and trying to stop to walk the trail there. I want to stop and swing.
As a child, swinging was one of my favorite pastimes. I had a metal swing set in my backyard. It was your basic kind of set. It had two swings with plastic seats connected to the frame with chains and a two-person glider swing.
My parents truly lost no money on the purchase. I probably played on that swing set more than with any other toy I owned -- Barbie and Matchbox cars included.
Although I had swings in my backyard, a swing on Granny Jobe's porch and a tire swing Daddy strung up for me near the smokehouse out on our land in Jobetown, I would often beg to go to the city park to play there. Opting, most of the time, to ride on the big swings that still sit near the road at the top of the playground.
Papaw Hughes was the easiest one to convince of my need to visit the park. Though he died when I was five and the older I get, the more fade my memories of him become, there are a few of them that will never go away. I can remember him coming to get me, taking me to the Co-Op to buy fresh eggs (for the longest, I thought eggs literally came from there and wouldn't believe they actually came from chickens) and then to the park to chase squirrels and play on the playground.
Though Papaw was a busy insurance salesman, he never seemed to mind spending time with his youngest grandchild. From him and that time spent together, I gained the nickname of "Squirrel" and learned, even though it was only a five-year lesson, that there is a bond between granddaughters and grandfathers that little in life can break.
As I grew older, my friends and I would convince our parents to let us ride our bicycles or walk to the park to play. Back then we had little to worry about. We didn't know about drug dealers or other folks who tried to harm little children.
The world seemed a bit simpler then. Even today, I can remember the freedom I felt while riding in a swing. I'd pump my legs as hard as I could to get as high as I could get and soar with the birds. During that time, I didn't worry about anything. Except that Mama might not let me play outside as long the next day as she had that day.
There were no bills to pay or troubles of any kind. Peer pressure hadn't been developed yet and I hadn't heard the word self-esteem.
Now there seems to be so much pressure just to exist that some folks don't even call it living anymore. We worry and fret and stay so tense and then we wonder what happened when heart attacks, high blood pressure and other maladies hit us.
I'd like to try and figure out how to get back some of that childhood nonchalant attitude I once had. To once again live one day at a time and not worry about the future, even when it looks the bleakest. Maybe I'll stop by the city park, get on a swing and figure it all out. It can't hurt to try.
(Kim Jobe is news editor of The Daily Corinthian.(Corinth, Tennessee) Her columns appear on Fridays. Though she tends to fret from time to time, she is trying to adopt the adage of "not sweating the small stuff.")
As Star Trekie as this may sound, or as Out of This World this may seem to you, the original black and white television broadcasts of "I love Lucy" are now reaching other Planets and Aliens in outer space. The Television Waves sent up into atmosphere back in the 1950's are just now reaching far out into Space.
The very first Lucy and Deszi Shows are being seen by aliens, if there are aliens. Scientist believe that any life forms which might be "Out there" would find out what we are like by watching our old tv and news shows. That would mean (to me) that if Alien's wanted to come to earth and blend in, they would dye their hair red and wear big polka dotted dresses and the men aliens would have cuban accents! Right? Can you image men aliens copying Fred Murtz "attitude" and stupidty?
Joking aside, it is an interesting concept, and scientist are sure that many of our tv waves have now reached other life in the planetary system. Many of them believe there is life out there. I think it is strange that if this is true, that an unrealistic comedy would reach aliens to represent us earthlings. Woman certainly are portrayed silly on these shows, so aliens would have to be taught to give us equal rights all over again.
