Perfect Day

Matthew Arnold wrote that that “the pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light.” To me that’s summer has become: the pursuit of perfection. We spend our days seeking the light of the sun and the sweetness in life. Perfection comes to us in moments throughout our lives when we can feel the cumbersome, weightier parts of life melt away and we are free to simply enjoy our existence. However, because “life is not a work of art… that moment can’t last” forever. But it can be stretched to the brink of breaking and made to last as long as possible. So with the office chairs and school desks looming with the next day’s dawn, we took a moment of perfection and pulled and stretched it into full day.

In celebration of our great nation’s birth, Monday came without the normal stresses of daily life. Classes were canceled and offices closed, giving us the opportunity to take full advantage of the summer sun. The morning began early for me as I had volunteered to provide muffins for members of our ward who would be watching the city’s Fourth of July parade later that morning. Putting my culinary skills to use, I invented a new type of muffin: Blueberry Chocolate Chip, by mixing together two packs of Betty Crocker Muffin mix. Needless to say, they were a hit.

After dropping off the muffins at the parade route, PT and I headed off for the first of the day’s adventures. We fought traffic delayed by parade goers and 5k runners as we drove out to Rock Canyon. We grabbed our bags and headed up the trail to a rock formation known as “The Kitchen.” Over the past year or so, PT has been collecting rock climbing gear and getting more and more into the sport. This summer I began going with him, invoking memories of Enchanted Rock down in Texas where my Dad would take me climbing in my younger days.We spent a couple hours taking turns scaling the rock face as the morning sun warmed the air around us. Once our forearms couldn’t handle any more pain, we pack up the gear and headed back to the car to get ready for the next phase of the day. We got back to our apartment just as the parade was ending.

Now a little background: on Saturday afternoon i had a little stroke of genius. We had wanted to do a Fourth of July celebration barbecue, but Saturday ended up being a really busy day for everyone so we never had a chance to have our cook out. However, while pondering ways to get my fill of fire cooked meats, i recalled being told about some ponds 45 minutes south in Mona where there is a giant rope swing. “What better setting exists for a summer barbecue than at some rope swings?” I thought to myself. I pitched the idea to my roommates and got them on board.

So back to Monday, the time was now 11:00 in the morning. We had an hour and a half until people weer gathering to head down with us to Mona for the epic Rope Swing Cook Out. We ended up caravaning in 5 cars down to Mona, with Brad’s truck packed full of burgers, hot dogs, and my grill. We listened to any patriotic songs we could find on our Ipods to keep up the celebratory mood of the day.

We arrived at Burriston Ponds to find that our idea was a popular one. Our group of 25 added to the already large crowd waiting turns to fling themselves 20 feet into the air over the pond. There are two rope swings at Burriston Ponds. The first, and largest, has you swing from a platform nailed to a tree about 18 feet in the air. It’s a little bit nerve racking standing on the edge of the platform try to catch the rope as a spectator throws it up to you.
The second swing, though not as high, is still a thrill. Swinging from it involves walking about 5 feet out on a branch about 12 feet in the air. Just as fun as actually swinging is watching others swing from the rope, or at least attempt to. If your form is off and you lack the proper arm strength, you are likely to break your fall with your face or your stomach. There is plenty of documentation of that on youtube is you search for Mona rope swing.


I think Brad's face really sums up the experience better than any words I could put to paper.


We stayed at the ponds, swinging, swimming, and eating for 3 and a half hours. By then the sun had sucked all the energy from our bodies, making the drive home a struggle to stay away. Once we walked through our door, PT and i collapsed on our couches and immediately fell asleep. After an hour of power napping, we arose for phase three of the day.

One confession about my friends and I: we have World Cup Fever. Because of that, we play soccer two or three time a week. So we put together a great plan for the evening, we would go and play soccer for 2 hours, come home and shower, then go see How to Train Your Dragon in the dollar theater.

The soccer was fun, yet exhausting after a day full of sunshine. I am still amazed that these long days allow us to play well past 9 o'clock. The movie was better than any of us could have anticipated, full of non-stop action and laugh-out-loud moments. Seriously the writers for these animated movies are worth every cent they get paid. We walked out of the theater just as the clock ticked past midnight, officially ending what was a perfect day.