![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rwtverio.ncte.org\/lesson_images\/lesson246\/horseswing.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI can hear their laughter. <\/p>\n
My two oldest sisters are far out in the park, climbing the monkey bars. My other sister is just over there, spinning herself on the merry-go-round. She calls me over to join her, but I\u2019m too scared. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m going to fall, since she goes too fast for my small body.<\/p>\n
I decide to ride the swings instead. These are my favorite swings in the world, shaped like horses, with bars in the front that you pull back and forth, making yourself go higher and higher. I\u2019m still little and I haven\u2019t learned how to pump myself on regular swings, and with these I don\u2019t need anybody\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
I love these swings. I feel like I\u2019m flying when I ride them. I go higher, and higher, until I\u2019m almost touching the big, fluffy, white clouds.<\/p>\n
There are other kids around me, playing on the swings, too, but I don\u2019t talk to them. I\u2019m lost in my world, busy tasting my freedom while flying. There\u2019s a sweet old lady sitting on the bench, smiling at me. Nothing new. Lots of sweet little old ladies smile at me. It\u2019s something they do when they see little girls.<\/p>\n
I hear the crunch of gravel and turn my head towards the parking lot. I see my mother, in her black coat and scarf, walking with Granny, all white-haired, and my father is behind them, back straight, with hair of salt and pepper. They\u2019re walking over to the benches so they can sit and watch me and my sisters. I don\u2019t pay them much attention, and don\u2019t mind that I\u2019m missing what they\u2019re talking about. It\u2019s probably just boring grown-up talk, anyway.<\/p>\n
I steer my attention back to my horse. It\u2019s a lovely yellow, with a brown mane, and as I ride it I imagine it has wings and we can fly around the world together. As I go higher, I forget the world around me, and cannot see the real world anymore, just my own, pretend world.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a little girl swinging next to me. And then suddenly I\u2019m snapped back into reality.<\/p>\n
The little girl gets off her swing and turns to me and says, \u201cI\u2019m going to go play on the monkey bars.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then she shocked me. \u201cMama.\u201d<\/p>\n
What? You mean I\u2019m not four anymore? I look down at my horse, and for the first time notice how my knees are sticking way out in front of it. I look again at the smiling old lady, and this time I see she\u2019s smiling because she is amused. I look over to Granny, and now I see her hunched back, and the difficulty she is having walking. And I don\u2019t see my parents, since they are now over-seas.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see my sisters either, because they\u2019re all married with families of their own, each living in a different state.<\/p>\n
In that instance, I could see the human life cycle hurtling forward, right before my eyes. Kids grow up. They get married, have kids of their own. Parents age.<\/p>\n
Grandparents die. And the cycle repeats itself.<\/p>\n
And life goes on.<\/p>\n
A prayer flows through me, without my tongue even moving, like a silent stream over quiet rocks, \u201cYa Allah, give me the wisdom to treat those older than me with the compassion and respect I would want if I ever reach their age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asiya Akyurt<\/p>\n
Asiya lives in Virginia with her husband and twin daughters. She is an active MAS member, and enjoys homeschooling herself and her daughters. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I can hear their laughter. My two oldest sisters are far out in the park, climbing the monkey bars. My other sister is just over there, spinning herself on the merry-go-round. She calls me over to join her, but I\u2019m too scared. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m going to fall, since she goes too fast for my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[36,96,492,673,707],"class_list":["post-4858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood","tag-acceptance","tag-asiya-akyurt","tag-growing-older","tag-kindness-to-elders","tag-life-cycle"],"yoast_head":"\n