Slice of Life ~ Day 15 of 31

In the front yard of my Grandma’s old rickety house, was a gate that could certainly have used a coat of silver paint.  I didn’t care ~ I just knew I loved that gate.

Looking back, I realize that it was just an ordinary gate. There was a bar that you had to maneuver to unlatch.  As it opened and closed it made a wonderful creaking sound caused by metal against metal.

But there was something about that ordinary gate that appealed to every single grandchild that came to visit Grandma.

Maybe it was the way our feet fit perfectly on the bar near the base of the gate.  Perhaps it was the way our arms could wrap around the rusty vertical bars or how we could s.t.r.e.t.c.h and reach the very top of the gate.

Yes, it was an ordinary gate.  But every grandchild was drawn to it like flies to honey.

There wasn't any reason to have a swing at Grandma's house!  We just used her wonderful gate! We could have spent hours out there swinging ~ back and forth ~ back and forth!!

I swear my Grandma must have had bionic ears! As soon as we got on that swing gate she would come running out the front door screaming. "Quit swinging on that gate!”

I can't even begin to count the times I heard those words coming out of my Grandma's mouth.  That little saying is etched in my head forever.  If I close my eyes, I can still hear the sound of the gate swinging and the voice of my Grandma!  

I don’t think there was a time in my life that I went to visit Grandma that I didn’t swing on her wonderful gate! I also knew that it was just a matter of time before my Grandma would be bursting through the front door with her famous words that us kids knew was definitely coming! “Quit swinging on that gate!”

Many years have passed since my "swinging gate" days.  A few years ago we stopped to see if anything was still standing at Grandma's house. I had to smile when I realized that about the only thing recognizable was my Grandma’s ordinary gate.  My sister and I couldn't resist.... we had to plant our feet on the bottom and swing on that ordinary gate.

"Quit swinging on the gate!"