This rope means everything to me. To someone walking the grounds, it is discarded rope that needs to be tossed. To me, it means freedom.
You see, just a year after we moved to Barbados, I desperately wanted a swing. It was in the moment of life, when I longed for solitude.
On September 26th, 1992, I came home from school to find that my parents had gotten a swing made for my birthday and put it on a tree far away from the house. That swing was my spot. It was my freedom, It was my daydreaming zone, it was my nighttime under the stars... It was where I could think and believe in whatever I wanted, all while I had my head back and my legs in the air… I loved that swing.
As years went on, and I moved out of that house and from Barbados. The wood on the swing eventually rotted, the iron parts rusted, and the rope finally gave way- as many things do in life.
My little 12-year-old hands held this rope once, and seeing it here makes me happy.
Location: Upton Road, Barbados.