why ya gotta take the tramp?

it had been a real tug o' war.

in the mom corner we have 5' 5" (or close enough) blond mama with a fierce stink eye and a hand that fits perfectly on hip giving off the essence of authority.

in the dad corner we have 6'4" strong hawaiian man with a look that tells you he never loses. anything. ever. sigh.

we were running out of backyard space, yes, this may be true but what's a backyard for? places to put things for kids to play in or on right? places to put structures that will keep your kids safe and busy for at least 30 minutes at a time while you do something important like, make dinner, or simply lock yourself in a closet for moments of solitude. c'mon, ya feel me! i know you do!

the trampoline has spent many years being a very good friend to me. it has filled days with moments of happiness and not just for me. my kids loved this trampoline.

when it was cold (as cold as southern cal can get) they would take blankets out and build forts on this.
when it was boring inside they would go outside taking turns jumping while one lil body laid flat and let themselves be rolled and bounced all over the trampoline knowing the safety of the netted walls would never let them down.
when it was time to take a breather they would be served lunch on the trampoline happily bouncing their little buns while munching on their lunches.
when it was hot outside they would haul over the sprinkler placing it underneath and get on their suits (or not) and jump and twist and flip in the sprays of cold hose water.

no matter what the day, the time, the situation, the jumpers had a smile therefore, i had a smile.

he said it was time for it to go. i couldn't stand the thought of the trampoline being taken down and hauled to the dump. i looked to my kids with the, "okay, this is where you do what you always do when you don't want something to happen look." whine. whine dang it!
crickets.
really?

my kids aren't so little anymore and i guess i just wanna bottle it all and live in the little bottle with them and bounce and jump and roll and smile for a good long time.

i really looked to my littlest little to start the whining. she failed me that one. nothin', not even a small whine. she should know the  "mom look" by now and should have produced some sort of noise on my behalf. nope.
of course i gave one last ditch effort of the stink eye to the dad corner.
i lost.

but...here is who gained.
shane took all the pieces down to his factory where all the guys felt the same appreciation for the trampoline as me. except they saw something else. they upcycled in a way that made me happy.
soccer nets!

many goal nets were made out of my friend. hmmm...that sounds wrong.
anyway, you can see here that the trampoline will continue to hear laughter, see smiles and make many moms, dads and kids happy.
even though there is a huge gap when i look out my back door at where my friend use to wait to be of help, i guess it really was time....