Page 22 - Virge 2025

THE SWING FROM CHERRY
TREES
I wish I had known. Maybe I would have
been better to my mother if I had known.
Often, I think of the swings tied from cherry
trees and the sap on my hands that I cried
about all night because of the stickiness. It
was such a burden to my life that I found
the only thing I could do was weep.
Truthfully, I cried even more after my mom's
arms wrapped around me. Her comfort
made me sob, because I didn't know how I
needed a pair of arms that much besides my
own. Oh, how cruel I thought it was, that
they wouldn’t be attached to me forever,
And, I'd never said it to my mother, God
knows why.
I believe every daughter despises her
mother at least once in her life, simply
because the world tells us there’s a perfect
way to raise a child. And so, we pick out the
flaws of our mother's choices in raising us. I
think more of what I despise about her, and
I just come back with compliments. I guess
that’s not a surprise, though, because if I
despise her, aren’t I just despising myself? A
daughter is just her mother with fewer
mistakes in life, after all. Though, I did envy
her and her compliments of life at times.
Parents spend their whole first years of
parenthood holding their breath for those
first words. So much, that they forget what
comes before words: feelings. And as true
as anything could be, the love I felt for my
mother was the first thing that made me a
person. As soon as I was able, I knew I'd
envied how funny she was, how she was the
thoughts you replay in your head because of
how funny they are. I guess it made sense
that in my mind, that’s where she lived. In
those funny moments that won't
By A. Lauchman, Grade 10
22