The whole world
In the South, the whole world exists on the front porch. We take this for granted in New Orleans. Porch sitting is a way of life down here. But when I was young we lived for a time in Manhattan, near Washington Heights, and there and then people used to sit on their porches stoops too.
Yesterday, we did what we do normally – we waited till the sun was low and then we went out to the front porch to sit and watch the golden light that stretches across the bayou and casts everything in an antique hue. Neighbors and friends rode their bikes, their cars, walked, strolled, ran by or were gathering around the table on the bayou chatting, and they all either waved, stopped, came over and sat, called to us from their own porch or from the bayou.
One had a granddaughter born yesterday, one had started a new job and had just come home, one drove by on her way home from her new job, one was simply walking her dog, one was trying to call but saw us on the porch instead.
Our friend turned to us and said, “Does this happen every day? I never speak to my neighbors and they avert their eyes when they see me coming. This isn’t just saying hello, there is a lot going on out here.”
Yes, as Eudora Welty once said, “Southerners live their narratives,” and as the proprietress of the LaLa is wont to say, “We live them on our front porches.”
June 7th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
How I miss having a porch… a balcony!
For the first time in my life, I’m living in a small basement appartement; good thing it’s only temporary. And good thing I’m in the mountains — stepping out into nature compensates for the lack of a balcony or patio to sit on, sipping my morning tea.
So this gives me even MORE of a kick in the pants to create abundance for myself. Thanks for helping me out with this great visualization of better times to come.
LOVE
xoxo
June 10th, 2012 at 10:13 am
The outdoor is important as hell – I need to be in nature or I become an automaton who can’t thrive.