From the Front Porch

“The person who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world.”

Our house sits on a corner. Directly across the street is a row of historic, Victorian homes. Diagonally, across the intersection, is an entire block of apartments and townhomes. The closest eight of these townhomes each have differently colored doors in bright, primary colors: purple, orange, light green, yellow, blue, red, indigo, dark green.

My brother and I rent the house together, and it’s he who points out one day that our porch faces south. We’re talking about how pleasant the front porch is, largely because it receives sunlight most of the day, when he says matter-of-factly, “This is exactly why a south-facing porch is so important,” and I suddenly feel both embarrassed and amazed. 

I’m embarrassed because it seems obvious to me when he says it. But why had I never considered the direction the porch faced? I log the information away in one or two of the filing cabinets of my mind, in folders labeled something like “The Cardinal Direction of Our Home” and “Things to Look for When You Buy a House”. I had never considered the cardinal direction of the front porch despite spending hours and hours out there, basking in the same sun and absorbing all of the activity around me. We spend time in the exact same spot, but for him it requires no deliberate thought to string together the obvious information that what makes the porch so enjoyable in the first place is its prominent, south-facing direction. I consider myself an observant, introspective fellow at the worst of times. But this, this is knowledge gained intuitively in a way I can only dream of.

I tend to “know” things because I discover them for myself, sailing like an explorer into the vast reaches of the unknown and conquering some tidbit of information, then proudly staking my flag in it, pointing to it and saying, “There! Do you see that? I know that.” Whereas there’s no prepossession in his statement, in his grasp of the facts. While I stalk onto the shore like a champion, flag at the ready, I already find him there enjoying the sun and the sea breeze, the waves lapping around his feet, bringing him knowledge that he accepts as a gift rather than as a thing to be sought, possessed, and vanquished.