A Simpler Place and Time.

I grew up in the 1940's and 1950's or what I like to call the 'front-porch decades.' That's right, everybody had a front porch back then and neighbors often dropped by to sit-a-spell on the front porch where they'd swap stories and gossip about folks down the street who were sitting on their front porch.

In 1950, my father built his dream house, which was on a corner lot in upper Washington Park, East St. Louis, Illinois. A corner lot was a must for our family and that house had a nice front porch but do to a perma-stone wing wall, which did not permit a evening summer breeze, Dad decided to head to the back of the house where he built a car port. The car port was large enough to park two vehicles but nary a one was ever seen on that nice large concrete pad. Instead, we had a swing-glider and several lawn chairs...the car port became our afternoon and evening family sitting place.

Today the front porch has all but disappeared. New homes seldom incorporate front porch designs. On my evening walks, I never see anybody sitting on front porches. Fact of the matter, I don't see many people sitting outside in the front or the back of their homes. I suspect the porch and outside neighbor gatherings vanished about the time television and air conditioning arrived on the scene. What adult wants to sit outside, sweat and get bit by insects when they could be inside enjoying cooler air and mesmerized by 'The Walking Dead' on television?' And today's kids are much smarter than to run around playing 'Kick-The-Can' in hot-humid conditions when they could be in A/C sitting on their own 'can' and eating Pringles.

I learned a lot sitting on that outside car port and my grandparents porch. I discovered origins of different night sounds, I learned every neighbor guy's trade or employment circumstance. I heard family stories about folks and events gone-by. I don't guess there has ever been a time in my life that I shared more conversation with family than those decades of the '40's & '50's.

I sometimes wonder if the front porch sitting and backyard visiting returned if we'd become a less anxious, less stressed out people with a calmer and kinder disposition. It seems to me that spending more time in conversation with folks you know and folks who truly care for you serves one better than sitting in front of a television listening to a total stranger tell you how and what to believe.

With spring around the corner, instead of spotting that 'first' Robin, I'm going to note the date I spot the first porch sitter and the first boy riding his bike with his baseball glove strung onto the handlebar.
I cannot remember the last time I noted a hop-scotch chalk drawing on a sidewalk and I'll just bet none of my grandkids ever played 'Mother May I.'

I must stop now and take the garbage can and recycle can to the front of the house for pick up today. It used to be we'd put those trash cans in the backyard alley but that alley-way disappeared about the same time as the front porch.