Porch Swings and Gravity
There’s too much gravity.
That according to a recent essay in The Wall Street Journal discussing the mystery of dark matter. Dark matter is, as the writer noted, invisible; its presence can only be inferred by its influence on other objects. The problem is, there’s more gravity in the universe than can be accounted for by the mass of all known objects. So there must something else out there otherwise the universe would collapse or fly apart (or something). But who knows?
A porch swing is Nora’s idea for defying the laws of physics. To be specific: a Cumberland Island swing. A few years ago (ok, more than a few), we spent time on Cumberland Island for Nora’s 40th birthday, along with her brother and sister-in-law. We also brought along our youngest daughter, who was about a year old at the time and too little to be left at home. There’s a beautiful photo of her perched on one of the eponymous swings.
Nora introduced the idea of a swing towards the end of our latest visit to the job site. Once back home, she forwarded a photo of what she had in mind to Rodney. Complications quickly ensued. The return email summed it up:
I (Rodney) was considering that it was a standard width – 5 ft / 6 ft. This swing, cool as it is, is 90” long – it will fit a length of a king size bed in it. Other considerations:
- The front entry lights will not be able to stick out very far or will have to be flat mounted – just not way out on brackets (arms);
- The column in the rear will need to be removed and the swing will have to be centered between the outside column and the column mounted to the wall; and,
- We will have to add even more support in the ceiling for such a bench – likely a beam – it weighs 100 lbs. already and can easily sit 3-4 people.
Our front porch is pretty big. But still. Do we take a second job to add a swing sizable enough for the entire Wallenda family to do synchronized back flips off it and into the front yard, or do we look for some sort of compromise?
Luckily, Rodney weighed in. His suggestion: fit a 6-footer and leave the columns as drawn. Done.
And that’s the way it is most of the time. You have a dream. Reality intrudes. You try and split the difference. Those half-realized visions drift away, but they don’t entirely disappear. You can’t see them but you can feel them weighing on you — the dark matter of the soul. Maybe they’re all just in your imagination. But you need them to make the universe work.
500 miles 