It was the summer of 2020, and my neighbor Morgan and I were very bored. We needed to find something to do, so we decided to play on our front yard tree. Little did we know, harmless play would turn into a blood curdling freak accident from which we took a very important lesson. 

Morgan and her family lived right next door to us. They were the kindest and friendliest neighbors. They absolutely loved having us over and were a blessing to all those around them. We lived on a pretty hushed and serene cul-de-sac. Nothing really happened around the neighborhood. There were never any parties or neighborhood disagreements. Morgan and I spent most of our time playing on the bottom of our cul-de-sac because that's where our houses were.

Between our houses, right on our property line, there was a medium sized tree. The tree was full of flowers in the spring and summer. In the fall, the tree contained bountiful leaves, but was rather withered and barren in the winter. Sometimes, Morgan would swing around and climb on the tree when she was bored. This didn’t really bother Morgan’s parents or me. My parents, on the other hand, thought much differently.  

My parents were always perturbed regarding Morgan and the tree. They often worried that Morgan would fall off of the tree, into our front yard, and it would somehow be our fault. To make sure this didn't happen, my dad cut off the branch that was hanging over our property. Nonetheless, this would still not stop Morgan from getting hurt.

Morgan always knew the best things to do around the house because she was homeschooled. We were playing in her front yard when suddenly Morgan remembered a trick she liked to do on the tree when she was bored. In an effort to demonstrate her skills, Morgan would quickly venture to the edge of her front yard. She ran up to the tree and grabbed the branch that hung down swinging herself around the tree. Morgan and I spent the rest of the afternoon joyfully swinging on the tree branch enjoying the warmth of the summer air and the freedom of not being in school.

Morgan decided she wanted to give it one last swing before we went inside for the day. She decided to go a little bit further back so she would have more momentum. She ran through the sanctum of freshly mowed grass with her eyes fixed on the branch. Things seemed fine and very calm at first as she quickly ran towards the tree. Morgan then lifted her hands up to the branch. As she grasped on and swung her body over the rigid and unbreakable concrete. Morgan accidentally let go of the branch in mid-air and her body soared through the air for a brief unit of time with her shoes flying through the air. Suddenly, as though her body was being sucked to the ground, she started plummeting towards the concrete.

Morgan's body smacked the ground like a bird flying into glass. She laid there for a good 10 seconds. After recognizing that she was still alive, it was hard not to laugh. Morgan then suddenly burst into tears. Morgan's mom happened to be in the garage and right when she heard the commotion she came running out. As she was running through the grass I heard her yell, “please send her to Heaven! Please send her to heaven!” I presumed she was talking to God at this moment assuming her daughter was dying. 

Morgan’s mom picked her up and she threw Morgan on her back and ran through the grass to the front door of their house. I could see Morgan and she looked pretty sad and shamefaced. Morgan's mom was holding her shoes and she screamed at me, “get her shoes!” She was so overwhelmed at that moment that she must not have realized that the shoes were in her hand.

The whole time this played out, I kind of just sat there taking it all in with mixed emotions. I was scared and really didn't know if she was going to be one hundred percent healthy or not. I watched as the door closed and my last chance to make sure she was fine vanished. I was just sitting there alone. It was just me and the quietness and the laughter in my head as she seemed fine and it was likely her mother was overreacting.

As the door shut, I decided to get up and head inside my home. I was hoping to find some comfort in my mom. I explained to her what had just happened. She wasn't able to pay much attention because she was in a work meeting on the computer, but it was still nice to tell someone. In fact, she didn’t hear any of the commotion outside. She did not hear Morgan’s cries nor her mother’s yells. Because my mom didn’t really seem upset, it helped me feel better about things.

In the end, Morgan ended up being just fine. She didn’t have any serious injuries other than her ego was broken a little. One thing this taught me was to remember no matter how comfortable you are with a skill, you should always be careful. We can still fail even with something we feel very confident doing. Even worse, our failure might be in front of our friends. Small things we learn today help us see things more clearly in the future, and that is what growing up is about.