The healing porch

[plantsandworms]

So glad to be here at the porch because I have been traveling for such a long time. It's night and it's warm and I am laying on a blanket in the grass nearby so I can look up at the stars. I plan to spend a long time identifying constellations and making up the ones I don't know until I fall asleep. I count the satellites as they ghost by.

[rbswan]

I just found the porch and it made me cry.  Its just such a beautiful creation and feels true to my healing process.  I've been thinking of constructing a safe place in my mind for my inner child after all the grief work we have been doing.   Thank you, and everyone else, for building and adding to a perfect haven.  I'm in.  Right now my kid is sitting on soft pillows against the house wrapped in a blanket, feeling safe and looking at the ocean.  He's still very shy and careful but he will bring something special to the porch soon.   

Also, it sort of reminds me of my favorite childhood book, Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn (written in 1965).  It's a beautifully drawn story about a boy and his friends that leave their town and build their dream houses (tree house with wrap around porch, underground house, river house, circus house, etc.)  I read that book until it fell apart.  I would stare at the pages for hours at the homes that Andrew Henry built for those kids and wished so much that I could be one of them and have a house and real family of my own.  The ending is hopeful and happy and makes me morn for what I never got.  This has moved me more than anything I've found so far.  Thank you so much.  I needed this today.

[woodsgnome]

Quoting rbswan:  "He's still very shy and careful but he will bring something special to the porch soon."

Wonderfully said, to which I'll just suggest that you've already brought something special to the porch just by your presence. Thank you for being here.   

[rbswan]

 

[M.R.]

As I was going through the posts tonight I came across our porch and as I read posts of people bringing their own unique talents and gifts it made my eyes start to water. Not because I am sad, but because there is such hope here. I have not known hope. And I wish so much to be there on the porch staring out across our world seeing the beauty we have created. I wish to turn around and see all of you there with love and smiles and me being terrified not knowing what is going to happen, but at the same time knowing nothing bad will come of it. I don't have to speak. I don't have to interact. I can sit in silence wrapped in a warm blanket and just feel, just be, with dogs and cats and puppies and kitties all around me and a hand wrapped in warm fur knowing that I am surrounded by people that feel the same way. No silence I have to fill. No expectation I have to live up to. Thank you for giving me that space even if its just in my imagination.

By the way, I haven't read all the posts, I skipped because I wanted to make sure I wasn't too late to post. I will have to take time and read about our porch.

[Three Roses]

Beautiful post, MelodieRose!

I wish to turn around and see all of you there with love and smiles and me being terrified not knowing what is going to happen, but at the same time knowing nothing bad will come of it. I don't have to speak. I don't have to interact. I can sit in silence wrapped in a warm blanket and just feel, just be, with dogs and cats and puppies and kitties all around me and a hand wrapped in warm fur knowing that I am surrounded by people that feel the same way. 

You've eloquently captured what I'd feels like for me here, too. Thank you.

[AphoticAtramentous]

Sitting here on the porch wrapped up in a sleeping bag... I find them cosier than blankets, it's a shame they're only brought out for camping though.
It's the first time I've left work mid-shift, just suddenly started feeling sick so I'm just going to lie here and chill for a bit. No work, no thinking, just relaxing and resting... well, even if I tried to do something that involved thinking I wouldn't be able to, my cognitive ability has just gone 
Hope everyone's day has been good so far.

[Wife#2]

MelodieRose, what a beautiful description of all I wanted this porch to be.

Today, I'm taking some quiet time on the porch. I'm watching the waves lap up onto the beach, wrapped in a blanket of reflection and acceptance. It's my new blanket - one of those super-soft-like-butter ones. My puppy, the 50 pound, 100% love bull dog, is across my lap. My son, though he's really in school, is playing at the ocean side, smiling and running in the sun.

Your smiles, like my son's smiles, warm my heart and bring me comfort. Thank you.

Tomorrow, I may deal with many things. Tomorrow, I may do nothing. Today, I build my strength for what may come. Here, on this porch, I can build.

PS - whoever made the coffee, it's GREAT! Soothing and delicious. I really need this never-ending cup today.  to those who enjoy hugs.

[Blueberry]

It's great to see so many new people on the porch and see, hear and sense all what you bring!

I'll be on the porch today too. I'm so indecisive that I'll possibly drive you all round the bend as I wander from one area to another, maybe sitting down and then suddenly jumping up to go somewhere else. Maybe I wll find what I really want and where I want to be.

[M.R.]

As I layed in bed last night, trying to fall asleep, as you all know that doesn't come easy, I finished reading all of the posts that make up our porch. This was a brilliant idea that somehow encompasses all of our safe spaces into one.

But, as for me, I am in a time of my life where I think the porch will end up being my perminate space for a while. That is okay though, I think. Maybe it will bring me much needed calm.

So I come to the porch and to you all. I'll walk to a corner of the porch and sit with my back against the railing, unsure yet curious as I look out and watch all of you do what it is you do, getting your own much needed calm. I'll feel the warmth and softness of the blanket wrapped around me as well as the calm from the dog that followed me and played its head in my lap.

Melodie

[I like vanilla]

How BEAUTIFUL Wife#2 - THANK YOU!

I am so glad this posting came up on my feed.

I have just decided to visit the porch. I have cuddled up in a comfy chair with one of the blankets on the shady, forested side with my cat, some herbal tea, and my paints. And Oh! A lilac bush has just sprung up nearby! I can see the bees joyously visiting the flowers and smell the flowers' wonderful aroma wafting over me in the soft, warm breeze. Ahh...

Thank you!!!

[Three Roses]

I'm in a hammock today, lazily swinging in the sunshine, the sweet scent of flowers wafting on a light breeze and the sound of the ocean in the background.

[Elphanigh]

I love this place so much. It is phenomenal to see everyone here.

Wife2, I am enjoying that same coffee, it is delicious. Welcome to all the new people on the porch as well. I am so glad to have everyone finding this peaceful place.

Today I am sitting in a chair in the porch, with coffee and a book. Enjoying a bit of sunshine without it being too warm

[Wife#2]

I wanted to write poetically of our talents blending into one amazing panorama of beauty, peace, welcome, acceptance, joy and hope.

Each of the residents of the porch - brief visitors or long-term residents alike - make this better than any one of us could alone.

While our friends are away, we tend their gardens, maintain their tree-houses, feed their livestock (yes, a working farm is part of the porch grounds). The magic of this place allows those who love gardenia to smell that flower in bloom all year around - or whatever is your preference. There is sand between toes only when that is what one wants.

Each of us who visit this place have made it so much more than any in the beginning could have imagined. That is your beauty and your gift to the rest of us. Thank you!

[M.R.]

When I wrote earlier that I am at the porch never did I dream how much I would need it today. I just got back home after being at urgent care. I am in the process of being taken off a medication and I have been having what I thought was side effects. It turns out to be what is called discontinuing syndrome. I might go in more detail with another post. I haven't decided yet. But I really need this place today. If you were still offering hugs wife#2, I could really use one. And a warm blanket, and maybe even a long nap.