The Front Porch

Do you have a front porch? Do you spend time on it?

In my adult life, I’ve never really had one, just a stoop.  Not a real porch you can utilize.  Not one you can have a swing or rocking chairs or any furniture on really.  

I’ve always dreamed of a front porch, sitting out there drinking lemonade in the summers and waving at neighbors or drinking hot chocolate in the fall and winter wrapped up in a blanket, watching the leaves or snow fall… ahhh…

I’ve been dreaming of this my whole adult life.  

I grew up watching Andy Griffith sit on his porch with Aunt Bee and Opie sharing pie and listening to Andy pick on his guitar and I dreamed of my family doing the same.

I still long for a front porch with a swing and some chairs with blankets and pillows too and a little side or coffee table to boot.  I have great imaginings of waving at neighbors as they walk by, maybe even stopping to chat and get to know one another. The front porch has always symbolized community to me.  A place to make friends, greet friends and share community.

But then I remember how shy I am and realize that part is for sure a dream!  Lol well, unless DH is there.  He talks to everybody! That guy has never met a stranger.

I think we have the space to add a front porch pretty easily to our current home.  And when I say easily, I mean if we took down a tree that’s too close to the house anyway and we had the money for all the supplies concrete or wood and the roofing materials for a real roof and the money to hire someone to build it.  Lol So, yeah, not really easily.

Anyway, years ago, when I started my first blog I treated it like a front porch.  A place to sit and share life, stories, music, a cup of tea or glass of lemonade or that divine hot chocolate with whipped cream.

I loved writing there and I had a few followers that I got to chat with in the comments and I loved it!  I almost felt like I finally had a place I belonged. 

I think about that front porch all time.  The one in cyber space and the one I long for in my imagination.  I doubt at this point, I’ll ever have it.  Few homes are built that way anymore, but I don’t think I’ll ever give up on the dream.  

I still wander off onto that porch in my imagination all the time.  It’s a place of comfort and peace.  Maybe, that’s all it was ever meant to be.