She Swings
When i was in kindergarten, i use to walk to school of course-across a major thoroughfare by the way. I would go over there to play until i was about 10 or so also.
They had a heavy duty swing set as most elementary schools do and I will never forget-there was this one girl who could swing higher than anyone- male, female, adult, whatever. She went 1.5-2 feet higher than anyone else I’d say. When you were 100 yds away you knew if she was on those swings-I never knew her name but she REALLY impressed me. We guys would stop and stare at her swinging for a minute but would never remark about her skills. After all she was a girl and this was in 1954 or so. No boy would even think about getting on the swings the same time as she. I’m sure i saw her for 2 years or more there on the school playground.
Anyway i was stunned that no matter how i tried i couldn’t get that height or even close. Previous to seeing this amazing athlete, i thought there was a physics limit to how high you could go, which of course i had already achieved-lol! This was my first major realization that i could NOT do anything i wanted athletically. Other people had mysterious skills that i just couldn’t match.
Almost none of that is the point of the story though.
45 plus years later, I run into this guy from my general neighborhood-my age or close but somehow i had never known him. After a minute or so I said something like “I use to play at Ridgeway School a lot.” His instant reply? “Really? Do you remember that girl who use to go so high on those swings?”
They had a heavy duty swing set as most elementary schools do and I will never forget-there was this one girl who could swing higher than anyone- male, female, adult, whatever. She went 1.5-2 feet higher than anyone else I’d say. When you were 100 yds away you knew if she was on those swings-I never knew her name but she REALLY impressed me. We guys would stop and stare at her swinging for a minute but would never remark about her skills. After all she was a girl and this was in 1954 or so. No boy would even think about getting on the swings the same time as she. I’m sure i saw her for 2 years or more there on the school playground.
Anyway i was stunned that no matter how i tried i couldn’t get that height or even close. Previous to seeing this amazing athlete, i thought there was a physics limit to how high you could go, which of course i had already achieved-lol! This was my first major realization that i could NOT do anything i wanted athletically. Other people had mysterious skills that i just couldn’t match.
Almost none of that is the point of the story though.
45 plus years later, I run into this guy from my general neighborhood-my age or close but somehow i had never known him. After a minute or so I said something like “I use to play at Ridgeway School a lot.” His instant reply? “Really? Do you remember that girl who use to go so high on those swings?”
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