Bays, Tire Swings, and Sharing the Love

For those of you who do not know, the kiddos call my Momma and Daddy "May" and "Bay." When I was pregnant with Jessa, I think that figuring out when the baby should call her and Daddy was Momma's most important mission. She finally came up with "Melly" and "Billy." We went with that for about a year and then Jessa had some trouble with her "Ls," and thus May and Bay were born. I think it is always fun to see what the kids come up with. I have had friends with a "Gaga" or a "Mom Bill" or a "Grampy" or a "Meemoo." And none of these names were ever what the smart adults had in mind.

Jessa has always had a soft place for Bay. We have never known exactly why, but she and Bay are two peas in a pod. Spencer loves him, too, and Jessa loves everyone else, but it there is just something there with Daddy and Jessa. One time she got mad at David and said, "I want a new Daddy and I want it to be Bay." David was DEVASTATED, of course. I tried to comfort him. I told him that she told me several times a week that she wants a new mother. He looked at me and said, "Yeah, but has she named your replacement?" Point taken. But of course, she loves her Daddy immensely, and her love for Bay is in a different category. As of late, David is always her favorite, #1, most loved, first in the "God Blesses," his absence has definitely made her heart grow fonder. At least a few times a week, when she is mad at me, she cries and says over and over "I want my Daddy!"

I digress. . .

When we were trying to figure out what would make her party special this year since we just moved AND David is gone. Our answer was BAY! We knew his presence would make her day special. When he is able to get away or we go to his house, she is glued to him. In fact, we joke that her legs don't work when Bay is around. If he ever gets away (which is rare) he only has a few days. It is a 9 hour drive, so on a 3 day weekend, he leaves at 5 or 6 PM on Friday and arrives at 2 or 3 AM Saturday morning. Then he leaves on Monday at about 8 AM. But Jessa has a weeks worth of "chores" for him to do. She runs him ragged, but he enjoys every minute of it!!

Her main plan for Bay last weekend was she wanted a tire swing. I will never know what put this bee in her bonnet, but she had a one-track mind. He spent a while fixing the other swings she has had him put in trees through the years, but the whole time, she was reminding him of the tire swing. The poor man was up in a tree, trying to trim dead leaves, but she was focused on the next project.

What a man!

Finally, it was time. Daddy found an old jeep tire in the shop. We spent some time trying to get it off the rim/wheel thingy (pardon the technical terms). Daddy even had me back his car over the tire several times. He finally took it to a tire place to have it professionally removed. Daddy scrubbed and cleaned the tire. He got the rope over the branch. He drilled holes in the bottom of the tire for drainage. He tied the tire up and secured it.

Voila!

Jessa's dream come true - a tire swing!

As Jess was enjoying swinging on her new swing, I was talking to her about how lucky we all are. How lucky she is to have such a great family who loves her, her health, a home, plenty to eat, clothes, a school, a special birthday party, and all the other many things that we are blessed with in our lives. I said there are children in the world who do not have a Bay who would spend an entire weekend building them this awesome tire swing. And she was quiet. She thought for a minute. Then she said, "well, maybe Bay could just share the love." I got tickled, but tried not to let her know and said "Well, then what would you do if your Bay was out there sharing the love with the rest of the world?" And she smiled a big smile and said "Oh, that's OK, I would just be here, you know, swinging on my new tire swing."