Visiting Out On The Front Porch!

Last evening after I finished bringing a lesson to our Wednesday evening Onward Christian Seniors Bible study class, several of us stood out on the porch of one of the Church entrances and visited. There was very little breeze except for the air coming out of our mouths which was pretty brisk. We talked about the weather, of course, and how hot it had been, and the hottest we had ever seen it. We talked about growing up without air conditioning which led to a conversation about how different things are today.

While everyone agreed that we are blessed beyond measure with all the modern conveniences we have to enjoy, air conditioning being one of them, at the same time many lamented the loss of innocence and sense of community that used to be the norm in our country. Yes, it is true that we now park our air conditioned cars in a garage, having opened it with an automatic door opener, and we go into our air conditioned houses but we must make certain everything is secure and locked. This to many reflected on the big change that has taken place. Some said they never had known of people locking up their stuff when they were growing up, including leaving the keys in their vehicles. Others commented about how families no longer even talk or have time together because of schedules and TV, and computers, and the internet.

I also remember some of those days and when you consider quality of life issues like living conditions, and medicine, and conveniences, surely those old days were perhaps not as good. But when you take it all into consideration including the sense of community and spirit of sharing, then, yes, many of the changes have left us worse off. I well remember the days in our home before television. It wasn’t that we didn’t want one, it was not something my mom could afford. I believe our first TV was purchased in 1956. Wow! I wonder how we existed before it showed up? I do know we kids spent more time playing together, and the family did more games and stuff together, and in general we did more visiting with our neighbors back then.

In 1964 when we married, it was a couple of years before we bought a television set. We played cards, listened to the radio, and went places to visit other people. My wife’s dad at that time did not own a television because as a preacher he did not approve of much of the programming. Therefore, we would often spend time in his home enjoying a meal and then sitting around and talking. Sometimes we would gather with several families for a special event, like canning fresh vegetables, or boiling peanuts. The men typically would sit out on the front porch and solve all the great issues of the day.

When our eldest was just a toddler we accompanied my wife’s parents to one of their Church member’s home where they were preserving fresh figs. This was the mid 1960’s but these people basically operated like it was still the 1940’s. The man of the home was a wonderful fellow but he did love his snuff. This gave me some pause when I learned a drink of water was on the back porch in a pail with a dipper. I wasn’t sure just how much to turn that dipper because I assumed many others had done the same, but it made you less thirsty whenever the image in your mind was that dried snuff around our host’s mouth. Now he was very accurate with his spitting meaning he could land it just about wherever he wanted. This became more important as the men sat on the front porch with the children playing in the yard. Every once in a while I saw that snuff flying by our toddler’s ear which kept me nervous but didn’t seem to bother anyone else. The smell of fresh figs cooking was in the air and I could hear the ladies in the kitchen babbling and laughing as they talked about cooking, sewing, and most likely the latest news which where I came from was usually called gossip. After a couple of hours of coffee, homemade cake, and much conversation we said our goodbyes and left with a promise that we would soon be receiving several jars of fig preserves.

As they say, a good time was had by all. And, what makes things like homemade fig preserves special is that when you bust open one of those delightful, made from scratch, right out of the skillet, homemade biscuits, and you plop the butter in, and add the fig preserves, and at that very moment you always remember that special evening and the people who made those preserves. Now I tell you this my friend, this is the stuff that good memories are made of. More later……………..