Lori's Swing

Lori lives in a home up in the hills on a small, quiet piece of land. Her place is basically everything my heart dreams for in a home: modest home, gardens, fruit trees, chickens, land for the kids to explore, trees, sweeping views, peace and quiet.  Another friend and I drove up to have breakfast with her this morning. After scrambled eggs (freshly plucked from the nests of her two old hens), scones and berries, we went outside to wander on the paths her hubby had forged along the contours of the hillside. Down in a grove of trees we took turns launching off a wooden perch in the wooden-planked swing, soaring into the great oaks, and laughing the entire time. Here you see Lori swooping up into the oak canopy. If I lived there, I would be in that swing every day. Every day.

I like to imagine that Heaven will be everything that gives us peace. Because up in that swing, for a moment, there is nothing on my mind but the present space of where I am, the beauty around me--my life and all its responsibilities left behind as I launch off that perch. An absolute moment of peace. I think there must be a grove of trees waiting for me, with a swing or two ready for my presence.