Gratitude 5: Summer bouncing

 Thomas

 Ben

Best of friends...except when they aren't.

Our friends gave us their trampoline this year.  It was a second-generation tramp (possibly third!), and it had a few missing springs, but my kids loved it.  We put it up a week after our grass went in in July and it's still up now, minus a few more springs.

I never really wanted a tramp, but once we got one, I knew we will probably always have one.  Because I realized just how much the kids can - and do - use it.  Most of our summer days were spent with the boys jumping, it's true.  But they also played school on the tramp. And colored. And sat underneath it to play video games.  And sat on top of it to eat lunch. And one night, I took shadow pictures of them bouncing away in the fading light.

This hand-me-down trampoline made our summer. And since we have had this lovely indian summer, the fun has continued into autumn. But I don't think it will make it another year; approximately 1/5 of the springs are missing (luckily, all in a row! It makes a great slide for exiting the tramp, btw!).  So we will take it down this weekend and say fare-thee-well, thanks for the memories.

So tonight, I'm grateful for the summer my kids had on their first trampoline. I love the joy they felt whenever they saw it in their backyard.  I love that they didn't care that it was rusty in places or missing a few springs.  It was a living embodiment of the meaning of summer - something you jump into, fall hard for, and bounce back as often as possible for more.