The Sunporch

They call them three-season porches now and add them on to the main level of many homes. The designers of my childhood home were very wise. They featured a sunporch on the second level and it was part of the big square 3-story farm house. Equipped with three windows on the east and seven or eight on the south side, the room gathered in the warmth of the sun. The room was generous in size and had two doors, one to each adjacent bedroom on the north and the west.

It was a delightful place to seek quiet and it had a perfect viewpoint into the second story level of trees, almost like a tree house. I remember watching young birds in a nest as their mother brought food for them to eat. With the windows open you could heard the chirping and enjoy a comfortable breeze.

During the winter Mama used the sunroom for storage and for hanging clothes on a wooden dryer that spread open like an accordion. She would locate her sewing machine near the door in one bedroom so she could open the door for warmth from the sunshine or for a breeze during the summer.

I enjoyed playing on the sunporch. I remember playing house or school out there for hours at a time. I liked it even on rainy days because the fragrance of the rain would fill the room and you could listen to the rain falling through the leaves. I also loved it because it was painted a brilliant sky blue. In later years it held a ping pong table that my nephews loved battling over. The sunporch was a wonderful place.

"The Lord watches over you--the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (Psalm 121:5-8 NIV).