Guideposts – August 2019

22 GUIDEPOSTS (^) | August 2019
PH
OT
OS
BY
MA
TT
HE
W^
GIL
SO
N
I
woke to pounding. BAM,
bam, bam. What was that
racket? I got up and looked
out the window. My husband
and the two youngest of my
five boys were in the side yard,
working under the canopy of
our Norway maple. Tools lay
scattered on the ground.
They were taking apart the
boys’ wooden swing set.
I ran to the porch door. “What
are you doing?” I shouted.
My sons stopped working,
and my husband, Lonny, walked
over. “I guess I should’ve given
you a heads-up,” he said. “I’m
sorry. The boys haven’t used
the play set for a long time.”
He tugged at the bill of his baseball
cap. “We decided it was time to take
it down.”
I’d known this would happen sooner
or later. Little boys grow into bigger
boys, and bigger boys have so many
other things to do. Swim club. Base-
ball and soccer. My youngest, Isaiah,
was 10, and the next youngest, Gabri-
el, was 12. But I wasn’t ready. “You’re
My boys were
growing up.
Was I growing
with them?
BY SHAWNELLE ELIASEN
LeClaire, Iowa
Something
New
NEW BEGINNINGS