I want to continue this idea of resourcefulness that I spoke of in my last post. The idea of taking something that someone else might consider trash, and fixing it up to make it useful and enjoyable to look at. This is my definition of resourcefulness.
There is a story behind this porch swing. It actually has some sentimental value to me. We bought this when we lived in Denver, Colorado about 15 years ago. I had always wanted a porch swing and we proudly hung it on our back porch. I remember sitting with my neighbor on this swing talking and laughing as we watched our kids play together. I have pictures of my two older children sitting in this swing in their pajamas, eating ice cream cones when they were 5 and 3 years old.
When we moved to Texas a few years later, we brought the swing with us, intending to use it at our new place. Well, you guessed it, we never found a way to hang it up. We had no covered porch and weren't handy enough to build one of those free standing frames for it. So it sat in our backyard in the weather getting more and more beat up. It actually sat for 11 years!
We just moved after 11 years to a ranch style home away from the hustle and bustle of Dallas, TX. We live an hour East of Dallas in a small town of a little over 3,000 people called Wills Point. It's one of those cute towns you drive through on road trips to your vacation spot. My husband said to me the other day when we went to town, "We live in one of those towns. Can you believe it?" I said, "What do you mean, one of those towns?" He said, "One of those little towns that we always drive through on our way somewhere." He's right, and I can't believe it!
These pictures are of Julia staining our old porch swing. It looks so much better with a coat of stain. At this house, we do have a covered porch with a good solid beam for hanging swings like the one we already have. Rich bought the screws and the chain and hung it a few weekends ago. It looks out into our front yard where we have a tire swing and a horse shoe pit.
Already, even in August we have sat out there in the evenings and watched the guys play horse shoes. We had to pull out a few hedges to hang it far enough away from the windows under that solid beam.
We have started school up this month and Micah often picks to go do his reading lesson out here on the swing in the morning. I was so excited to use this for the first time after so many years. This is our Colorado swing that has relocated to Texas. It holds many memories and will hold many more in the future. My two oldest children are now 19 and 16, the ones who sat in their pajamas and ate ice cream on this swing.
I look forward to making some memories with these two little guys out here on the front porch! Who knows, maybe Rich and I will grow old here in this house and as our nest gets emptier, we will sit out here and drink our coffee together. Or just maybe we'll rock our grand babies out here someday or spend holidays with company sitting outside enjoying the countryside. The possibilities are endless!
