Of Teeter Totters and Oak Trees
I took this photo at Bell Springs (the family home) some years ago. The image makes my mind stop and my eyes water. It speaks to so many things: innocence, serenity, balance, simplicity, passage of time, pieces of life that are beyond my grasp. I remember a time when the kids played out there and the adults sat on the deck and marveled at the views. Now those kids go off to work and have their own children and I am the one who has the time to wonder about the meaning of it all.
There is an innocence attached to this photo that is poignant and tender. Children used to play on the hillside, under the oak trees. Their world was a secure one, full of imaginary heroes and crooks. There were safe adults everywhere to kiss the bruises and tell them everything was going to be okay. Maybe they believed it.
The teeter totter also speaks to balance, to ups and downs in life. It suggests trust. I remember riding on homemade teeter totters as a kid and whatever brother was on the other side would delight in holding me hostage at the top and bouncing me around because he could. And frankly, generally speaking, I liked it too. I liked being suspended up there, bouncing around, five or six feet above the ground- a bit of a safe thrill for a thrill seeking kid. These days the ups and downs of life are serious business. The willingness to take chances, to risk falling, is much more complicated than a homemade teeter totter. Back then, I would trust that the brother would not drop me (and usually I was right). But the world today bounces that suspended body all over and there is no telling when it will decide to drop me.
The photo encompasses the peacefulness of Bell Springs. There is something quietly tender about that place. It shelters family and the best of what the Earth has to give us. If there is a god, he/she can be found there. When I am there, I can shush those ever present, ever active , voices in my head. I can breathe. I can be innocent and know, if only for a weekend, serenity. I need to go there more often.
Great narrative JT! Thanks for the lovely picture and the many images that you describe. And, I agree with your analysis whole heartedly! For me, the anchor is the BSR Apple Tree. I get to follow the tree through all the seasons. First. the pruning, as I am doing now. Then the slash fire to burn the branches and then the composting, usually at the same time. Then the weed whacking and setting up the drip systems. During the early summer, just watching them grow, checking for water leaks, and maybe shoring up the fence to keep the predators out. Then the picking and distributing of the fruit. And of course the apple pies!
This brings back to me, too, memories of different times, and pastimes. We were fortunate in our childhoods. Thanks for remembering them to us all. And get thee to Bell Springs!