The buds were just poking their heads out to see if the coast was clear and the leaves could follow shortly. Mother nature was hard to fool. If the leaves and the spring wildflowers stuck their heads out too early they would pay the ultimate price.
Then spring rain greened up the grass a little. The smells of spring were abundant and inviting to the young boys and girls of spring.
It was a yearly thing that all the kids from the block did. We would caravan to the swimming hole. Most times we had a couple new victims to play the yearly prank on. The older kids always set up the young ones.
It was 52 degrees outside but the water temperature was 38 due to the overnight temperatures. It took 40 minutes by bicycle for the crew from Gays Mills to get to the swimming hole. There were hills and it was a long trip on my new yellow bike with the banana seat and butterfly handle bars. I really worked up a sweat. All of us were ready for a swim.
We fake argued about who was going to be the first one to use the rope and swing out and christen the hole for the new year. Every year we put on a performance for the young kids. We had already decided before we left who was going to use the swing first. I remembered very vividly my first swing out there with anticipation back when I was the voted first one
We all watched as the new kid on the block swang out there with pride and with the feeling of being the first to break the surface of the swimming hole.
http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-swimming-hole.html
