It’s Friday evening and I’m sitting on the front porch of the city house. Praise God for spring warmth! And I’ve suddenly realized that my parents would have loved this porch. Well, first, they loved porches. And second, they loved watching people. Now if you knew them you might think that it was Mom that loved watching people, and God knows, she did. But Pop did too. He loved sitting and observing people and things. He was a keen observer, and missed very little! He might not have talked about it as much as Mom, but he saw it. And if nothing else it helped him survive 50 years as a conference center director!
So, here we sit on a Friday evening, and there are people walking up and down the sidewalk. That woman over there is strutting down the sidewalk, every now and then being tugged backwards when her dog stops to smell something. Here is a kid who just drove up the street in a hurry, and parked in the alley (which drives me nuts by the way), rushed into his apartment house and 5 minutes later rushed back out in a white shirt, black pants, tying his tie. I think he must have a restaurant job – sounds like a restaurant uniform, don’t you think? Oh, and here comes a neighbor home from work in his green Volvo, taking stuff out of the car. Wait, why is he taking out wine glasses? Hmmm, maybe he hasn’t been at work. Maggie the collie won’t stay on the porch across the street with her lady. Her lady is sorting the mail for the apartment house, but she keeps have to say, “Maggie come back here.” Dogs are like that. Cool, there is a tiny two year old all dressed in purple just home with mom. Mom is trying to get stuff out of the SUV, tiny purple tot is staggering around the driveway. I love watching kids of that age walk – it’s the drunken sailor age. This latest guy in the silver SUV is in his gym clothes, and looks really tired. He’s walking very slowly down the sidewalk now. Must have overdone it at the gym. Okay, that dweeb could drive more slowly down my street, thank you very much. And there is the tan Prius – it always sneaks up on me. I like that they don’t use much gas, but they scare me because you can’t here them coming. Three doors down there is a dead balloon dangling from the porch light. Guess I missed that party. Here comes a black Jaguar, parking in the alley. Why do people in expensive cars think rules don’t apply to them? No wait, crap, I’m wrong, he ‘s just turning around and now has parked right in front of my house. “Do you want to get your gym clothes out of the trunk?” ”No, I’ll wait.” ”Why?” Well I want to see what Suzanne is doing and then I’ll make a decision.” ”Well okay. It’s totally absurd that you brought all this stuff. I can’t find my yoga pants.Don’t close the door, I need to grab a drink.” And off they go to the house next door – parents here to see their college child I guess, but interesting conversation. Oh, dear, that lady in the green sweat suit needs to loose some weight. There goes a jogger – pretty fast one too.
Porches are good for the soul. They’re also good for community and conversation. And it’s cheap entertainment. (Oh darn, white SUV just took the last space on the street that I was “saving” for my husband.) Many, many years ago when we lived in Canada my parents were visiting. And some friends (Nancy and her little son Dan) came to visit. Dan, about 3, climbed up on the sofa and looked out the big picture window and said, “You can see the whole world from here.” My parents, particularly Pop, loved that. He told the story for years.
Porches – you can see the whole world from here.
