As a young kid, I remember my grandparents reliving tales of the Front Porch. It was a gathering place for all of the community. There was a branch of chairs by age and sex. The young kids sat on the ground, playing marbles or jacks. Based upon the season, the girls sat on swings and snapped beans, shelled peas or cracked pecans while the guys discussed the weather, the plants and the stock exchange (4 legged stock, that is). Young couples, for example my parents, found shadows on this Front Porch to court and possibly steal a kiss.
As if in an internal clock, all activity stopped on the Front Porch once the window into the parlor was increased and the radio turned up. The toils of everyday life were set aside as the airings of Groucho Marx, wildlife removal services, Amos and Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly and Jack Bennny hauled them to a milder time. My mom to the day she died, remembered the specific instant when FDR spoke of”the date which will live in infamy”. Those words changed not only the management of the nation; but additionally, the dynamics of the Front Porch in that tiny rural community in Western Kentucky. The customs shared from this Front Porch are extremely personal to my loved ones.
Through time, activities on the Front Porch have surely changed. Horses and Model T’s gave way to bicycles, and private cars and skate and hover boards. Years later, I listened to the noise of a vehicle to come up the driveway and the final good night kiss from my daughter’s beau.
Televisions are as big as your imagination and with programs that defy imagination. Entertaining is frequently potluck but fortunately time honored recipes continue to be shared from family cookbooks. Lighting is solar or LED instead of by kerosene lanterns. Music is shuffled in your iPod playlist and commanded with Alexi. There’s still branch of seating by sex and age. The young ones are glued to their smart phones and choose selfies to share on social networking. The women discuss weight loss and fashion secrets; but very few. Men whisper about their jobs, the stock exchange and their libido.
I am nostalgic tonight. My mom just passed from this earthly life. She would have been 97 in a couple of weeks. She kept a journal for the last 77 years. There’s absolutely not any TV on; not the radio. My dog looks at me with confusion and concern. Can I need for days when life was simpler and people kinder. Perhaps. As in the days of my grandparents, the Front Porch remains the very first room of my dwelling. I enjoy that as I wait for my loved ones to collect. We’ll honor her departure as we recall my mother – Meme.