My porch is my favorite place.

I never tire of the view from it or the stability and wonder of it all.

I have struggled most of my life to feel settled, to feel grounded, to feel at peace with where I am.

I have spent many restless, unsettled years pacing the confines of my life, longing to be anywhere else.

I have spent most of my life homesick for a place I had never been.

Here on this porch I feel settled.

Here in the rustle of deep rooted trees I feel grounded and safe.

Here in the company of old houses, I feel connected to something bigger than myself. I feel my smallness in the scope of it all and I feel even that is too big.

Here in this moment, in my little corner of the world, I feel, for a second, that I belong, that I am home, that this is where I am meant to be.