Sometimes Beauty is Found in a Tire Swing in Your Very Own Backyard

"We have a tire swing in our backyard. A tire swing! In the backyard of my very own house with doors I can lock. I can slide the back glass door and watch my children play and they can be kids--eat dirt if they want-- and I think maybe here my oldest one will be okay. And look, our very own table with chairs where we don't have to sit on an unclean floor to eat, but we can sit in our very own chairs and look each other in the faces. I could make taco salad--you know--with bits of lettuce and tiny tomatoes and I think my sons might be okay and they gave me an ironing board and iron. I've always wanted an ironing board. And beds. We have beds that nobody has ever slept in before."

She pauses for a breath. Sighs.

"I have my very own house with a tire swing in the backyard."

She looks at me, my friend who just moved out of a women's shelter.

"Only God."

Her smile is wide like a blessing or a coming home.

beauty found in a tire swing