Front Porch

Close your eyes for a moment. (well, I guess you can't and still read, so just pretend you have your eyes closed.)

Imagine yourself as a child, sitting on the front porch at Grandma's house, listening to the crickets or the cars or the rain on the roof. Imagine the magical feeling as a child being able to sit with grownups on the front porch, doing what grownups do; sitting around and wondering. Wondering if it will rain or if the mail is here yet. Wondering if the potatoes are ready to pick in the garden, or what was old Joe Smith thinking when he chose that color for his house? Or even wondering if Elvis is really dead, and where an alien ship might land in your front yard without wrecking your Dahlias.

When's the last time you wondered about something? Something so profound and life-changing, and yet simple and practical and fun and wise. One of the fun parts is being a kid out on the front porch, and the grown ups start talking about stuff they shoudln't be talking about in front of a kid - yet they've forgotten you're there! We find out the best stuff that way.

The front porch is a wonderful thing, really. It's a great place to pick up the morning paper in your pj's, while wondering if the neighbors are watching you; and of course, they are. The front porch allows a great view of the garden or the coming's and going's of the neighbor kids. It's a great spot for thinking about what you really should have done with your life. And it often provides a safe sanctuary for cats, dogs, rodents, and the occasional raccoon.

But it's even more than that. The front porch can be the place where friendships are launched, where 'honey I'm home' brings warm fuzzies to your heart, where kids can sit on the porch swing with grandpa and learn about life, trucks, politics and the daily habits of Mrs. Johnson who lives across the street. The front porch can be a gathering spot for the neighbors and their kids. It works well as a showplace for neat stuff like barrels, or flowers or painted plaster animals or the occasional car tire.

Without being able to speak, the front porch says a lot about you and your family. It often gives insight into your favorite colors, your political persuasion, whether you're approachable or not, your taste in flower arrangement, and more often than not, whether you have something for the UPS truck to pick up.

It's a wonderful thing, this front porch. Where differences can be patched up, where babies and grand-babies learn to climb steps, where memories are made, and where a guy can learn to whittle. But in the past decade or so, it seems that the charm and usefulness of the front porch has all but passed away, along with the chance of finding a person anywhere who actually knows how to whittle.

Most modern houses don't even have a front porch to speak of; more like a landing. A landing is a construction guys economical view of a front porch. A landing is of no use to anyone except maybe the milkman. Can't jig, can't dance, can't swing, can't snoop on the neighbors, and a guy can't even whittle.

Let's bring back the front porch. Let's bring back the love and peace and the sense of neighbor-hood that is possible on the front porch. Go bake a cake or pick some flowers for the folks on your block. Find someone with a front porch, and ask if you and the neighbors can just hang for awhile this afternoon. There's not a thing in this world that could be more important. And that's MY view of and from the front porch.