Childhood

During childhood, I had a rope swing on a great big Pepper tree that grew from the side of the steep hill my house was settled on and I would pull it to the edge of the hill, then jump on.

I would swing out over the hill and pretend I was flying. I especially loved to swing during the Spring and Summer when the apricot orchard below the hill would be in bloom. I'd imagine floating over the treetops and out into the green hills, drinking the clouds as they passed by, their taste, one I could never describe, for it was a different flavor for everyone.

Now, I go outside and sit besides that old tree for the rope swing has long broken and deemed unusable. I still look out over the orchard, though the trees have long died and been cleared away, but I imagine what it was like, during childhood, when I was free to fly through the sky, over the hills and to lands far away, drinking the clouds as they went by...