A Reflection on the Outdoors -- A Porch Evening

 With warmer weather and the bittersweet chaos of the last block of the year, much of my time spent outside this week has been on my porch. I live on a busy intersection right off campus, but somehow my college house porch has been a source of peace for me all year, especially in busy times where calm is not the easiest to achieve. This week, I spent one particular evening out on the porch observing my surroundings and reflecting deeply about what it is about my porch that grounds me so meaningfully. 

It was around 8pm that I was sitting outside, and the sky was painted that perfect shade of deep blue that often happens at dusk this time of year. My porch faces west, giving me a great view of the sun setting and all its effects. Since reading Joan Didion’s Blue Nights last year, I always react to this shade of blue, thinking of Joan’s introspective words when seeing the springtime blue night that she describes. I realize that my porch is a perfect place to think peacefully and take a break from other distractions, letting my mind wander to connections like these. 

I also realize that the beauty of my porch as a space to enjoy the outdoors is that is feels familiar and homely and reminds me that the outdoors can be just that. As I have reflected on my blog in the past, the outdoors has often felt daunting and far out of reach because of the disconnect between the urban spaces I grew up in and the definition I had for the outdoors at this time. Having rewired what the outdoors is for me, I understand that my love for porch time and the peaceful state it brings me to is that it is a form of outdoor time that fits into my newer, more inclusive understanding of what an outdoor space can look like. 




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