Naturally as a child, one will find a place where most of their time is spent. This is where they can be whoever they want and have no one tell them differently. Most people would say that the certain areas they would go would involve friends and family, but my special place was just for me and I was always by myself. Mine wasn’t a room or a club house of some sort, but it was a swing.

I moved to my house in New Albany from my first home in Clintonville when I was about two years old, we were only in the house at New Albany for a few years. My parents built me a swing set there and I was so excited. My neighbors all had one, but the fact that I had one for my own was a extraordinary feeling. My swing set was awesome because I had a slide with little notches on the sides where I could race my pink matchbox cars. It had a little tower so I could play with my dolls. And best of all it had two swings that went so high that when I would swing, I would feel like a spaceship lifting into space. I swung every day and every night. I specifically remember I would go out there every night right when it would start to get dark. Sometimes I would swing, and sometimes I would sit and think or even sing. I'm not a good singer by the way I just have always liked too.

It probably seems weird that a three or five year old kid has anything to actually think about, but I did. I would just stare into the sky or the grass and talk to myself. My mom at first would come out and sit on the deck and make sure I was safe, especially because I had an issue of running away. But she figured out that I would just be so much more relaxed there and decided to leave me alone. The swaying motion of the swing really made me feel at one with my surroundings and it was a way for me to escape.

I was now five and we were moving so my mom could be closer to her job. They weren't bringing my swing set either. Luckily, my house that I live in now has 3 swing sets in one corner so I really didn't need one for my own. I continued to swing all the time and it didn't really matter that it wasn't "mine". A couple years passed and I was swinging with my friend Natalie and we decided to jump off again and again. At one moment I jumped too high to wear I flipped in the air and landed directly on my arm and it broke. It was hard to try and swing again because I was scared of something that I used to love.

I stopped swinging like I used too, but would do it every once in a while. Now, at times I'll go on a swing and it brings back all the memories I ever had on a swing. It makes me feel like a kid again, which I wish I could have back so much. The swing acts as my special place as a child because I've experienced so much there and the fact that I enjoy it today as much as I once did makes it even more extraordinary. I've learned that although I have a lot of energy, at times just swinging can really calm me down. Also, that one place can really set out how someone will be in the future, considering I'm an overall laidback person.