Front Porch Perspectives

Stepping onto the front porch of each and every house on my street, I learned two very important lessons.

First, the front porch of a home communicates a lot about the family living inside. Many front porches conveyed a warm welcome. They were decorated with chairs, signs, or mats of all sorts. The front porches were bright, tidy, and inviting. They almost called me to ring the doorbell. When I walked up to these porches, I felt like the dwellers might just invite me in for lemonade. I don’t understand, though, why those homes with welcome signs were locked.

Some front porches, though, had been taken over by all forms of life. They instilled a sense of fright and made me feel that retreat might be my best option. The air was still and the spiders webs, bird nests, and general tree or flower related debris covered the porch. And the mosquitoes…yikes. To my surprise, though, most of these homes had some very generous indwellers.

Second, I realized that after seven years of living here I know very few people. Mark, Shannon, Margaret, and Sally were all significantly influenced by breast cancer. Mark’s wife died of breast cancer just after Rick died. There may have been other unspoken loved ones impacted by breast cancer too. I even introduced myself to the wife of a boy I used to babysit for; his mother had breast cancer a way long time ago. And Paige was just so darn sweet I am sad to have not known her forever. She invited me back to tell her stories of the walk.

As a community, over the four days I walked door-to-door so far, we’ve raised $621.00 to fight breast cancer. Yea my new friends!