• Required Products: The Heart of the Matter
  

Remembering How to Fly is a 3D swing set add-on for The Heart of the Matter, with realistic swing motion. It includes grass props and stone pathways to complete the set. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the times I spent on the backyard swing set. There was something about the process of pumping my legs to find the rhythm and then riding the wave of the forward and backward motion of the swing that both comforted and exhilarated me. Sometimes at night I would dream that at the crest of the forward wave I had indeed found the courage to let go and soar into the air… These feelings from my dreams were so real to me that they stayed with me for days afterwards. I felt like I was dancing on air and that anything was possible. That blissful feeling that had been awakened in me while in a dream then colored my childhood world with magic and wonder. The only limitations were those of my imagination. Now… do you remember when YOU learned to fly?

• File List

• You can find new icons for loading this product in the following Poser Libraries:
  • Character: “Lisa'sBotanicals:RememberingHowToFly”
  • Pose: “Lisa'sBotanicals:RememberingHowToFly”
  • Materials: “Lisa'sBotanicals:RememberingHowToFly”

• You can find new icons for loading this product in the following DAZ Studio Folders:
  • “Props:Plants:Lisa'sBotanicals:RememberingHowToFly”

• You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
  • “Materials:Landscape”
  • “Materials:Props”
  • “Props:Landscape”

You will find control dials for the swing on the TopRope body part labeled r01. Here, you can choose to rotate the entire swing with a simple swing rotation. If you wish to be more creative with the motions of the swing, you will find Easy Pose dials that add curve, wave and side-to-side movements.

You may also select any of the TopRope body parts to pose the rope both before and after the selected part. This is useful for illustrating human interaction with the swing ropes.

The swing seat is also poseable by selecting the body part labeled Seat.

Remembering How to Fly

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living. ~ Anais Nin

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the times I spent on the backyard swing set. There was something about the process of pumping my legs to find the rhythm and then riding the wave of the forward and backward motion of the swing that both comforted and exhilarated me.

I was blessed with the opportunity to revisit my childhood and the joy of the swing set this past spring. I had been talking about wanting a rope swing for my granddaughter, Alexandria. In hindsight I realize that not only did I want it for her, I also wanted it for me. On Mothers’ Day, my son Justin climbed up a favorite maple tree, secured a few ropes, and from them tied a wooden swing seat.

As I began practicing finding the rhythm in the forward and backward motion of the swing, my childhood memories returned. Along with them, I also received the wisdom of an adult interpretation of the childhood wonder I had experienced.

I observed that the backward motion of the arc of the swing was about pulling momentum and energy inward, collecting it within me as I headed toward the crest of the wave. Once at the top, there was a moment of weightlessness. Here, time felt suspended and I seemed to hover for a moment, looking down at the ground underneath me.

At the moment when I felt as though I would surely fall straight down on my face, the forward motion of the swing began. Now, I was required to switch the energy from inward and back to outward and forward. I leaned, pulling backward with my hands on the ropes, at the same time pushing forward through my hips, into my legs and out through the tips of my toes.

Finding the rhythm between the energy of the arc of the swing and the timing of my pulling and pushing as I rode the wave also created a moment of weightlessness on the forward motion. Here, again, time seemed to pause. What had felt like hovering on the crest of the backward motion was now transformed into the feeling of soaring on the opposite crest. It felt as though all I had to do was recognize the perfect moment to let go of the swing and I would be able to fly.

As a child, sometimes at night I would dream that at the crest of the forward wave I had indeed found the courage to let go and soar into the air. In these dreams I would fly around the back yard, circling the trees, brushing under the leaves, then swooping down to touch my mother's hair as she pinned wet laundry to the clothesline. Flying in my dreams was a delicious and blissful feeling of laughing, twirling, floating and freedom. My mother would look up at me flying and she would laugh, too.

These feelings from my dreams were so real to me that they stayed with me for days afterwards. I felt like I was dancing on air and that anything was possible. That blissful feeling that had been awakened in me while in a dream then colored my childhood world with magic and wonder. The only limitations were those of my imagination.

The summer of 2011 and my time spent swinging on the rope swing reawakened my childhood wisdom, my belief in magic, wonder and the realm of possibility, bringing it forward into today where it colors my world with the exhilaration of remembering how to fly.

Now… do you remember when YOU learned to fly?

Enjoy a creative day! Lisa Buckalew lisa.buckalew@gmail.com

• 2012-10-22 - Added DUF Files and updated installer to prevent uninstall error.

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