The Short-Lived Birthday Gift

One of the things I love most about our new home that we built is the big front porch (and the cold storage that is underneath it!)  But, it'll take some work (and time & money) to get it to look like my "dream" front porch.

Case in point:

 {some examples of what I like}

Ours is not quite there, YET!

BUT, it got one step closer last Monday when Matt got me a hanging porch swing for my birthday!  I guess he had installed the hooks into the ceiling the previous Saturday, so it’d be immediately ready to put up after I opened it on my birthday.  He was worried that I would notice the hooks and KNOW about the surprise too soon – but I never looked up, I guess, and had no idea!

By the time we got around to opening birthday presents it was pretty late, but I wanted to put it up THAT NIGHT anyway, so we got it up around 10:00 p.m.  More chain was needed so it could hang lower to the porch, so I didn’t even sit in it, yet, since I’d practically have to jump up to get on.

 The girls were all sitting in it, though....

Then on Tuesday evening, about 20 hours after I opened it, just as I was starting my BUNCO night here at our home, one of the ladies heard a big, loud crashing noise, and they looked out my front window.  (I was in the kitchen getting all the last things ready, so I was oblivious, and heard nothing!)
Then that lady came and found me, and was like, “Uh, Suzanne, your swing just broke out on your porch....and your girls came down with it.” 

I go out there, and I saw that the chain & hook on one side had come OUT of the ceiling, and RIPPED down a few sheets of soffit (so the wood rafters were exposed)

 

And that same side of the swing was touching down on the porch (the other side still hanging up), with the arm of the bench broken off....

{not my actual swing - I was kinda shocked and too preoccupied, trying to put on a party, to take a photo - but this shows what it looked like} 

...and I saw Haylee standing there in silence, and Katelyn standing there crying, and Brookelle had ran and hid somewhere, I think, because I don’t recall seeing her.  

But, I had 11 guests at my home, ready to start, so I just left "the carnage" on the front porch for my husband to see when he returned home.  ;)

Well, that was a short-lived gift; it was up less than a day, and I never even used it myself!  

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P.S.  All is not lost - Matt is working on repairing it/ordering a new arm and will reinstall it in a more secure place (he admitted, he wasn't sure if he got the hook installed into the wood beam or not).