Dawn's Notes
Swinging on a Grapevine Swing - July 2025
by Dawn Phelps, RN/LMSW
One of my favorite memories as a child is swinging on wild grapevines in “the pine grove,” a woodsy little forest up the hill from my childhood home in Tennessee. It was not just a pine grove though—there were many tall deciduous tree intermingled with the pines.
It was place of wonder, peace, and serenity from my active life as one of seven children. It was cool and quiet, and the ground was partially covered with a soft carpet of pine needles that had accumulated over the years.
Even though the foliage from the trees was fairly thick, we could see our way around, and I never felt afraid. We did not venture into the grove during the winter, but I could imagine the wind whistling through the trees and how cold it would have been. But it was a memorable summertime place for a child to play.
The wild grapevines shared space with the tall trees, intertwining themselves with the trees to help guide them upward toward sunlight. The vines sometimes grew 60 to 100 feet long. They vines were several inches in diameter at the base with roots that were firmly anchored in the ground.
The vines were usually strong enough to make a vertical swing that could hold the weight of most grownups. One caution our daddy always taught us—always give a grapevine a few strong tugs to make sure the vine can support your weight before swinging on it.
As young children, it was easy for us to wrap our legs around the swing and hold on tight with our hands as we swung, and none of us were ever harmed.
While I have lived in Kansas for many years after graduating high school, my husband and I have occasionally traveled to the South where we were excited to sometimes see grapevines growing near the highway, reminding me of the little forest close to my childhood home.
At my age now, it is unlikely I will ever return to that little pine grove, and I have no plans of visiting a forest to search for another grapevine swing. Those days are gone, but they left behind some special memories for me and my siblings. And I now rely on other pleasurable activities to fill my time.
In the future, I hope that other children will discover the wonder of swinging on a grapevine swing as we did. And I will always appreciate the outdoors, the woods, plants, flowers, birds, and critters—those extraordinary, “nature-made” things from my childhood!
After I experienced the death of my husband, I was challenged to find new ways to add wonder, peace, and serenity to my life to deal with the sadness. As in the lyrics of an old song from the 1800s—“in the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines, and you shiver and the cold wind blows”—grief can make us feel like the sun will never shine again, but it will.
And I soon discovered I was surrounded by small wonders in my own backyard, in my front yard, and outside the windows where I lived in the country. The only thing it cost me was a little bit of my time!
Similar to the grapevines looking for a bit of sunlight, I needed to open my eyes and look around, and I began to heal. Hopefully there are some nature-made “things” surrounding you as well.
Hopefully you, like I, have some pleasant memories of the one you love. Maybe you even had some grapevine-swing-like experiences. In the 1800s, Samuel Peck, a native of the South, wrote:
“Swinging on the grapevine swing,
Laughing where the wild birds sing,
I dream and sigh
For the days gone by
Swinging in a grapevine swing.”
Use your “now” time to search for some new bits of sunlight as you remember and cherish your memories. Appreciate yesterday, live for today, and look forward to happier days tomorrow.
Call about the next "Living Life after Loss" Group at:
Meadowlark Hospice
709 Liberty, Clay Center, Kansas
(785) 632-2225
Dawn Phelps, RN/LMSW, Group Facilitator