Not too long ago our youngest daughter, her husband and two children moved from our neighborhood to a small hamlet/ rural community just a few miles west of where we live in Franklin, Tennessee. Across the road from their house are goats, hounds and a few other such small animals. The other night my wife and I were sitting with their two children while they were having an evening out. Their hundred year old plus house has a large front porch and on that porch is something that is not as common in houses today as yesteryear, a porch swing.
That evening I sat alone in their swing for a while, although I did have some company. Joining me at my feet were their two dogs, Little Jimmy and Charlie. Pongo the cat came by occasionally but chose not to be social. As I sat there swinging back and forth at a leisurely pace I could hear the squeak of the chains of the swing, the sounds of crickets, saw lightening bugs dancing in the dark and felt a soft gentle breeze come across the porch. For me it was a scene straight out of my childhood. We had a large porch and a swing in the first house that I can remember living in. Adults often sought evening relief from the summer heat as air-conditioning was rare for many households at that time. Both sets of my grandparents and an aunt and uncle (Daisy/Frank) had large porches and swings. At one time porches and swings were gathering places for families.
I thought about all that went on in the lives of people on porches and swings, especially young people. If you grew up and dated in the late 1950s’ (and earlier for that matter) surely you have some memories of porches and what often took place there. If the truth be told many a first kiss or those three magic words (I love you) took place on porches or in swings. It has been said that a boy becomes a man when he decides it’s more fun to steal a kiss than second base. Many a mother used the front porch light as a way of saying the words of the old doo wop group, The Spaniels, its’ time for “Good Night Sweetheart, Good Night.”
The legendary Eddy Arnold may have said it best in the lyrics of this song he once sung:
It’s hung there on the front porch since this old house was built
It’s where the old men whittle and the women fleece their quilts
It’s held four generations through whatever life could bring
That ole swing, that ole porch swing
It held a grieving widow when my daddy’s daddy died
And now it rocks my children when they close their sleepy eyes
It’s where I popped the question with a quarter karat ring
That ole swing, that ole porch swing
It’s been there through the sunshine it’s had it share of rain
Been a witness to some good times and a like amount of pain
If it could tell its story what a violin could sing
That ole swing, that ole porch swing
It’s where brother read the letter that sent him off to war
We knew he had to go and fight but we didn’t know what for
When he came home he just sat there and never said a thing
In that swing, that ole porch swing
It’s been there through the sunshine it’s had it share of rain
Been a witness to some good times and a like amount of pain
If it could tell its story what a violin could sing
That ole swing, that ole porch swing
Probably more hearts have either been thrilled or broken than all the stars that I could see as I looked from the porch where I sat on this evening.
Maybe you once stood on someone’s porch or sat in someone’s swing. Maybe you remember what was once was said…
August 7, 2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson