Despite Dad insisting "NO trampoline!", Carli got a trampoline 13 years ago. "Who's going to put it up every Spring? Who's going to put it away in the Fall? Who's going to oil the springs? Who's gonna take you to the hospital when you break your neck? Dad, that's who's"!
After all those years, It turns out it wasn't Dad taking care of the trampoline, it was Carli. Every Spring she would gather the frame from under the deck and put it up. Sometime around Halloween she would take it down. Considering the amount of time Carli spent on the trampoline, Dad sure got his money's worth, without a single trip to the emergency room.
When Carli went off to college, that lonely trampoline got very little attention. Dad noticed broken joints in the frame. One leg was shorter than the rest. The springs were rusty. It just didn't have that bounce anymore. It was worn out, used up, dying. Even the best welder in town couldn't bring her back to it's former life.
Around this time last year, Dad called a scrapper to take the broken frame, legs, and rusty springs. After the scrapper took off with all the metal parts in the back of his pick- up, Dad sent Carli an email: Sorry about your trampoline, RIP.
When Dad assured Carli that the recycled parts of the trampoline would bring joy to so many people getting new iPhones and iPads, the tears stopped.
Last month when we came home after a three week trip, a cluster of daisies grew from the middle of the lawn. Right where the heart of that trampoline would be, it's final resting place.
Dad carefully mowed the lawn around that little clump of daisies as to not disturb it. Took a picture and sent it to Carli. Finally at peace, with his new iPad.
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