The Neighbor's Trampoline...

"Why don't you ever play on the trampoline with us anymore?" the youngest son said to the oldest. I overheard the question and thought I knew the answer. I was right.

"I'm so busy with other things; I don't have time to jump on the trampoline anymore," our firstborn child said. When I heard his answer, I knew he was right.

For the past few years, summer vacation for our children means, in part, the neighbors put up their trampoline.

A little history...before our next-door neighbors moved in, we were not trampoline people. Neither me nor my wife grew up with trampolines at our homes. Apparently, our neighbors did. When they moved in, one of the first things they did was set up their trampoline. Either the first or the second night it was up, we had one of our brutal east winds for which our little town is famous. I distinctly remember seeing this huge object blowing down their yard. In the morning following the storm, the tramp was destroyed with parts of it hanging in a tree.

This video shows where the tramp once stood (next to the swing set). It cartwheeled over the huge rocks and the end of the video shows the tree where a few support poles were lodged.

A few years ago, our neighbors approached us with a proposition. Since they put in their swing set where a trampoline should go, they lacked another suitable trampoline location in their yard. So, they asked if we could share a trampoline in exchange for allowing it to straddle our properties. You can see the overhead view from Google Earth. For us, it was a win-win situation.

My oldest is getting too old and too busy to be bouncing with the siblings. It's sad, but it's part of the plan. In a few years (if the trampoline continues to go up along with the temperatures...) our next oldest may be asked to join our youngest to jump with him on the tramp. I think he'd probably take him up on it at any age...but that's just him.