Goodbye, Swingset

When we moved into our Long Island home, the prior residents had been a family of four. With a ton of stuff and two children, we found it hard to believe they'd ever fit in this house.

We made a number of changes, including painting over the chalkboard paint on the basement walls, and merging two smaller bedrooms together to make one great big master bedroom since we didn't need the extra space. But until today, the one thing we hadn't gotten to was the swingset.

That thing sat out near our driveway for almost three years, looking, to my eye, absolutely ridiculous. We knew we would never use it. We're not thinking maybe someday, maybe in a few years, we might have kids. We've known for a long time now that that was never going to happen.

The swingset wasn't really in the way, other than arguably being a bit of an eyesore, but it didn't fit us. It was the last trace of "kids live here" from the prior owners, and we had been meaning to get rid of it for a long time.

A few weeks ago my husband finally broke it down, and today, he finally hauled the pieces off to the dump. The space near our driveway where it used to stand is empty now, and I feel surprisingly relieved that it's gone. It didn't impact my day to day life, really, but having something in your space that is completely at odds with who you are can be jarring, and having it gone, I feel more at peace.

Goodbye, swingset.