We had a family room before anyone called them “family rooms.”? Sometime after my parents bought our home, Daddy built a large room across the back of it.? we called it the back porch.? It really wasn’t a porch, as it was completely closed in like the rest of the house.? How it came to be known as the back porch, I don’t know, nor did I ever think to ask, but it lives in my earliest memories.
Approximately 12′ wide and perhaps 28″ long,? the door coming from the kitchen divided it half.? Directly across from it, on the back side was the door to the outside.? A large window on each end and four the same sized spaced across the back, let in an abundance? of light, making it a bright and cheerful room.? A wood stove, to the east of the back door, kept us warm on cold mornings.? Maybe that’s why I enjoy a wood stove so much today.
The West end, next to the kitchen made a spacious dining room.? The original kitchen window remained to be used as a pass through for food.? A round oak table sat in the middle of that end and an oak chiffonier filled one corner on the end wall.? At one time a bird cage, housing a Canary, hung directly above it.? Our Persian can, Purn, often slept in the sun on top of the chiffonier, positioned so she could see the bird.? Somehow, Mom had made her understand she couldn’t bother it.? I often watched her, curled comfortably in the sun and I know there were times she slept with one eye open, ready to pounce, in case that bird got out.
Between each set of windows across the back, Daddy built china closets.? Because of limited space they weren’t very big, so the shelves were small.? Mom let me keep my doll dishes and other special things in one of them.? Today, I have some of her things that sat on those little shelves.? Each one brings back memories.
There were evenings in the summer when Mom mixed the ingredients for ice cream and my two brothers kept the freezer iced and turning until it was done.? Is there anything better than homemade ice cream right off the freezer paddles?? Later in the evening, when Daddy got home from work, we’d all sit around the table and have some.
The winter evenings brought hot green tea with crackers and peanut butter, or hot cocoa with marshmallows and toast.? Other times a big bowl of popcorn.? So many interesting discussions, with a variety of content, took place around our table.
It was there I learned to play solitaire with Byrd, a railroad buddy of Grandad’s, who came by when he needed a good meal.? I’d always have to sit still for him to count my freckles before the game could start.
It had six boards, that table, and when they were all in, it hearly filled that end of the porch.? It accommodated several relatives and often an additional friend or two, for numerous dinners.
Christmas celebrations held in the back porch linger in my mind as some of the very best ones, particularly during my pre-school years.? Mom loved the holidays, especially Christmas.? she wanted a big tree put up in the East end of the room, and decorated at least two weeks ahead of time.? On the evening she chose to decorate, anyone who wanted to help was welcome.? Consequently, all my cousins were around.? Along with the boys and I, there would be 4 or sometimes 5 others of various ages.
The trimming of the tree took place after dinner.? we’d wait patiently until the lights were on, and then we got to decorate until we ran out of decorations, with Mom in the middle of it all.? Each year we thought our newly decorated tree looked prettier than the last one.? After all was done, there were treats for the decorators because we’d done such a good job.
As the days got closer to Christmas the back porch seemed like a fairyland to me.? Good at suspense, Mom added something every now and then to make it fancier, like an additional decoration to the room, or to the tree.? Every year there would be something new that came from one of our trips to Spokane.? Brightly wrapped packages began to appear, one or two at a time.? It was so exciting, especially for a little one.
Added to this were the smells from the kitchen as she baked cookies, made candy and other treats.? After an occasional taste, these goodies disappeared to “who knows where” until Christmas Eve when they would magically appear, arranged in multi-colored glory, on various special dishes.
Late in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the relatives began to arrive.? When they added their gifts to the array already there, gaily colored packages spilled out all around the tree.? Be this time the anticipation of what was to come became almost unbearable.
First we all ate dinner, then the kitchen was cleaned up, and then we opened our gifts.? Such glorious times.? I went to bed happy and woke up the next day the same way, delighted with my particular visit from Santa Claus.
On Christmas day, all were there again for a traditional turkey dinner.? with Mom in command, the kitchen and dining areas were a-buzz.? Sometimes, I wondered how she did it all, but she did, and left us memories to treasure.
I had so many enjoyable times, aside from the holidays, in that room.? At one time, we owned a Victrola, that sat in the East end.? It had to be wound to play the records.? How different from the now perfected Stereo systems.? Close to my twelfth birthday, Daddy taught two of my school friends and I to waltz to the big heavy records it used.? One of us always kept it wound, so we could keep him dancing.? he finally had to call a halt.? We about wore him out.? To this day certain waltz music awakens that memory.
Before I completed my thirteenth year, the porch became Mom’s elaborate new kitchen, with the breakfast nook she’d always wanted.??
I valued our roomy back porch.? If I wasn’t feeling well or had a problem, that’s where I headed.? It was my place to recuperate, solve something, or even sulk, if I wanted to.? Whatever, things always got better when I went into that room.
True, times and places come and go, but the back porch remains in a a corner of my memory.? I’m thankful for that niche, for certain sounds, smells and tastes allow me to relive specific times in that exceptional place of long ago.