The Acceptance of Change

Chapter 1: Tire Swing

I was 10 when my dad killed himself.

The day before he did, the sun was beaming bright in the sky. It reflected off the ground as if the ground was bedazzled in mirrors. School had just ended a few days before and I was looking forward to summer. That day, he drove me to the local outdoorsman depot. As we walked in, the strong smell of wood wafted over my face. The floor was smooth concrete and each step was somehow almost quiet. The store, however, was not quiet due to the sounds of pop songs being played through the ceiling speakers and the occasional overheard conversations. We got to a section of the store where we could call someone to cut off a length of rope for us. My father pressed a button with an arrow pointed to it that read, "PRESS ME FOR HELP!" Shortly after, a man with an employee uniform walked over to us.

"I'm looking to buy 10 feet of rope," my father said. "Enough to hold someone like me, but thin enough to knot." I was curious about why he was asking for rope. The employee was also curious as to what he wanted to get, probably for safety reasons. I'd also be concerned if a man wanted to buy 10 feet of rope that could hold the weight of himself. My father glanced down at me, then spoke.

"I'm going to make a rope swing for my son," my father said. A well of joy began to fill from the soles of my shoes to the top of my head. I was ecstatic!

My father was often drunk, so I spent most of the time by myself. He never got me any gaming consoles like the other kids' parents did, so I would always have to go to my friends' houses to have any fun. The most I could do at home would be either drawing or watching TV, but it would never be any channel I wanted to watch. He would always be watching reruns of Seinfeld or Friends. Both of which I never understood. So this was my first true toy. My body instinctively formed a huge smile cheek to cheek in response to him telling me this and I could not keep still. My father then asked for a way to cut the rope in case it wasn't the right length, and the employee recommended a hot knife.

We ran other errands while I was constantly telling my dad how excited I was for the rope swing. We then stopped by the locally owned auto store to grab the tire. We walked in the building and all I could smell was this crazy strong gas smell. After a few minutes of waiting, a sweaty heavier set man walked up to the counter.

"Hello sir, what do you need help with," the sweaty man asked.

"Do you have any old junk tires that you're willing to part with?" My father responded. "I'm making a tire swing for my son." The sweaty man was overjoyed to hear about this. He told us about a daughter he has at home and how he would do anything to make her happy and commended my father for wanting to do this. The sweaty man then walked us to an outdoor side of the building where there was a pile of old tire swings. He said we could have as many as we wanted. My dad looked around and chose one that looked newer and less corroded. My father then gave the sweaty man a seemingly very sweaty handshake and put the tire in the back of his truck. We then drove home and I was kicking my feet with joy the whole way. We got home and he went around the house and put the tire and rope in the shed. It was getting late at this point and he promised he would put it up tomorrow. I couldn't wait.