The Front Porch

"Go outside and make some new friends!" My mom used to yell that at me a lot when I was a kid. I spent my best childhood years in a humble dwelling situated at 212 E. Park street in Plano, IL. As a kid, making new friends was easy. All I had to do was look for a football game or baseball game (hardball) in a small empty residential lot. There was one lot in particular that was right across the street that had a line of brush in the back (which made it hard to find a baseball I might add) and beyond that a long shed with broken windows...caused by foul balls of course! I remember hiding in the bushes with friends and smoking homemade cigarettes I fashioned from corn silk, rolled in brown sack paper. These smokes were kind of harsh by the way and as a result we didn't do this often but it made us feel "big" when we did.

A couple of weeks ago while vacationing, I was on one of my early morning bike rides and was reflecting on 212 E. Park street. The thing that was on my mind was the front porch. Not many houses these days are built with front porches and the sad thing is, most people really don't care. Right around 1980 a new "thing" took root in home renovation. This "thing" was called a deck. Oh to have a deck in the back yard was the thing to do so decks began to spring up everywhere. Society had taken another evolutionary step from "community" to "isolation". It was now possible to sit outside and not be bothered by people walking by on the side walk or have them wave as they drove by. It was now possible to never get to know a neighbor 2-doors down. Instead if you look 2-decks down and wave hello they might think you've been snooping at their wife laying on the deck sun bathing or something-so we isolate ourselves.

Those of us old enough are fortunate enough to have known the "good ol' days" when we didn't have back yard decks. Back then my parents probably would have rejected the idea anyway. Growing up in the 60's was a gift-it truly was. People back then seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be friendly, to wave at a passing car whether you knew them or not. People would stop on the sidewalk as they went by to say hi to mom and dad and they did the same. The front porch is where a neighbor would drop off a freshly baked rhubarb pie. We sat and watched several thunderstorms from the front porch. Mom often yelled my name from the front porch when I was out making friends while a storm was passing. After supper time was followed by a sit on the porch like Andy and Barney from Mayberry did but Andy smoked a better cigarette than the kind I made as a 10-year old.

Last night after my bike ride, at about 8 p.m. I wound-down with a sit on my front porch...something I don't do often enough. People I don't know waved as they walked by, said hello, smiled and I did the same. It's interesting that where I live now, there is significant separation between homes, hardly any front porches and zero sidewalks. That is Lake Holiday. Isolation-living by design you could say. My most precious memories of "community" will always be of a time when I was a kid growing up at 212 E. Park street which made me later fall in love with a front porch and hate a back yard deck.