rope swingin'

This past weekend we spent a lot of time out in the islands, poking around and playing in the water. One of our favorites to visit is Hope Island. It's a secluded little island with a few camping spots and only accessible via boat. There's a rope swing on it that sends the rider swinging thirty feet over the water, the beach, and back up to the roots of a very old tree serving as a pendulum. Parker loves this swing. He's been hanging on tight and wrapping his little legs around the driftwood tied to the bottom since he was one year old. He gets higher and higher with every year. This year, he jumped out of the boat, pulled it up on shore, ran up to the rope swing and hauled himself on all by himself. Then he asked that Jeremy push him higher and higher until he could nearly touch the leaves hanging down.

This was our last weekend before school starts. Before I have a big, huge kindergartener and a preschooler. I was standing there on Hope, watching Everly run around below, cheering Parker on. And Parker soaring higher and higher and telling me he was scared, but he loves the adventure of it and it occurred to me that this very moment was exemplary of this coming year. Hopes and adventure and the thrill of going past our limits. Everyone in this family will be feeling the same thing.