“Can I take your photo?”

When swings along the way turn into a portal back to childhood

📍Da Nang, Vietnam

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I've never met a swing I didn't swing on.

My love affair with swings began at a very young age, when I'd visit playgrounds with my older siblings, parents, or grandmother. I remember swinging endlessly, feeling that floating sensation wash over my entire body.

Many years have passed since then, and I notice that every time I encounter a swing, I must swing on it. Not just for a moment to check it off some list, but for long minutes where I feel exactly that same sensation again.

Interestingly, it feels like a light meditation, this floating. It always brings a smile to my face, always makes me look around at the world from a different angle – from up to down and back again, like a pendulum of thoughts in a moment of quiet.

Somehow, I think it's a part of my childhood, and swings serve as a gateway, a portal back to those pure moments of happiness. How could I refuse a brief break from adult life to become a child again, even if just for a moment?

I feel like the universe scatters and swings along my path, like in a good computer game. You know those games where you're walking along the main path, and suddenly there's a door or a small passage on the side, and when you enter it you reach a hidden bonus level?

A level with no enemies or challenges, just prizes to collect? Swings are those secret passages in my life – surprising treasures worth stopping to discover.

One day, while wandering along the beachfront in Da Nang, I came across a swing, and without thinking, I sat down and started swinging. The sun was already leaning westward, sending orange-golden rays across the sea, and the gentle breeze caressed my face with each forward swing.

A few minutes passed before someone approached me and asked if she could take my picture.

"Sure," I answered, imagining she worked at the nearby restaurant and it would be good for their social media.

The truth is, I was just thinking about how nice it is to see someone enjoying themselves. Because I simply sat there swinging for almost half an hour, looking at the beach, the people, the disappearing sun, life itself. Radiating happiness.

It's just a shame that the girl sent me the pictures via Instagram, so their quality is really poor. But if you look closely, you can see the happiest child in the world, with feet in the air and sun in her hair, swinging carefree at the edge of the world.

Perhaps all of us, with all the wisdom and experience we've gathered over the years, need moments like these of release. Moments when we forget our biological age and simply return to being children. Moments of freedom are woven into every simple thing, like a random swing in the corner of a beachfront.

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Thank you for being part of this journey