Front Porch Living

Hands down the favorite part of my house is my front porch. My front porch has 2 white rocking chairs and sits close enough to the street that I can chat with people who walk by or I can chose to ignore them depending on my mood :) I admit usually I chat because that is why I love my front porch--it connects me with my world. In the spring/summer I spend hours on my front porch: reading, working, talking to neighbors, or just sitting. Growing up the front porch was the meeting place, the center of our home in the summer time. My family and I passed hours on the porch talking, laughing hanging out.

To me the front porch represents relaxation, joy, peace, community, relationships and home. So yesterday when I decided it was warm enough to pull out my rockers I must admit I did a little happy dance. It got me thinking that there aren't many places in my world that represent such goodness as my front porch. It is my place of refuge, of safety of 'Ah I made it through another day' or 'thank God for the beauty of nature' or 'my stomach hurts from laughing with my friends and neighbors'. We all need one of those places--a special place we can regroup a place that allows us to ground and return to a sense of peace. A place where we can take a big deep breath! It we are living intentionally we need a place to let our hair down, to laugh to cry to be ourselves.

So I raise a toast to my front porch and pose the question--where do you do your 'front porch living'? Where is your personal refuge?