I don’t know about you, but when I need a place to relax and unwind, there’s just no better spot than a screened porch. For the last 2 generations, whenever I’m headed to the lake I already feel the daily pressures of life subside. And my favorite part of home at our “Hodge Lodge,” hands down, is the screened porch. Like a warm weather living room, the screened porch is a like an outdoor extension of the home.
When I was 16, my dad built a simple home at Lake Bowen. He would always say that when he was at the lake he didn’t “relax”, but rather, he could “unlax.” Somehow the latter was a particularly more intense version of relaxation that he only achieved at Lake Bowen. I can still picture him rocking on the porch with Frank Sinatra playing in the background while looking down at a dock full of kids having a ball. To our family, a porch overlooking the lake meant leisure time with no guilt. Fast forward 40 years and now I’m the dad sitting on that same porch, “unlaxing” as I happily create my own family memories. There is just something about that porch. Set up in the trees with a view down to the water, watching the beauty of a blue heron fly across our cove ... all the while hearing laughter in the background. When I’m on that porch, all I see or hear ... is bliss. It doesn’t get any better than that.
As springtime approaches, may we all look forward to another happy season of good times with family and friends on the porches we love.
