I spent most of my time on that porch swing because for the longest time my grandparents didn't have air conditioning. In Louisiana and no air conditioning. It was worse than hot and there was really no relief from the heat except when you sat in the kitchen where the giant window fan blew or laid in that porch swing rocking yourself to sleep with the breeze you created by your own movement. Those were the days when I didn't have a care in the world. Life was not fast paced. There were no computers or cell phones and my grandparents had only one small television set that could be found in the living room. It caught one channel pretty well if the rabbit ears were adjusted just so. I had no idea what Cable Television was until I was about 16 years old. I would grab a magazine or book and lay on that front porch swing and my eyes would often times close and I didn't know it at the time but that was the best sleep ever. I miss my grandparents and I miss those lazy days where time stood still and nothing was urgent.
My porch swing and rocking chairs sit on the back porch of our lake house. And this is where I will be for the next few days. I will drink my coffee out there each day as I watch the morning fog lift from the surface of the lake. I will sit out there in the evenings where I will hear a nightly symphony performed by the crickets and cicadas. And my mind will relax. It will let go of everything I believe to be urgent. I will breathe slow peaceful mindful breaths and meditate and inhale the fresh country air. Perhaps I will even dose off one day out there in my swing and for just a moment feel as carefree as I once felt as a young girl swaying back and forth in hypnotic rhythm on my grandparent's front porch swing.
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