Front View

So what is it about sitting on the stoop or in front of your house on a gorgeous spring and summer day? My mother thinks it's ghetto. Maybe in a way it is, especially in relation to my block. Though I live in the city, with the exception of the public housing complex down the street from me and a corner store here and maybe there, my neighborhood is very residential. Lawns, yards, parks, trees, houses, mini mansions, cherry blossoms, semi-detached homes and ajoining homes. Even though this part of DC holds its own affluent residents and special appeal there are still traces of real city life; i.e. people sitting on their stoops - porch or not.

A few years ago a single mom and her three young children lived across the street from us. The children would spend all their time in front of the house, despite the fact that they had a nice size backyard. Other than the occassional climbing the neighbor's tree, the children pretty much stayed on their own front, but it did baffle me for a while why they didn't play in the backyard. Especially as they displayed the typical "urban" picture of braiding each other's hair on the front steps.  

Growing up, me and the neighbors my age pretty much played all throughout our yards. However, there was Mikey and his crew that would run their skateboards up and down our block and rode them clear right on to the Ridge Road Rec Center on a good day. A smile actually graces my face when I think about those days. One of Mikey's friends still comes around. Grown of course. Comes back to see his grandparents and mother that still live on this block. One day we had the opportunity to speak - on the account he had received some of our mail by mistake. Took him a minute for him to remember who I was - some little "bratty" kid in Osh Gosh that use to watch them skateboard and taunt them, hoping they would fall over. Still, we did more than just play on our fronts.

Oddly enough, today as I took the Snickerdoodle outside to play, I didn't want to head to the back of the house to sit on the newly built deck.The deck is nice, but..... not my element. At least not today.  I wanted to be on the front.  As I watched over the Snickerdoodle as she ran around in the yard and rode her tricycle it hit me why the front is so appealing.

Community interaction.

Neighbors working in their yards stoping to have a chit chat. Teenage kids walking up from Simple City or the bus stop down the street, cutting through our streets to head home or to the "rec." Interesting to overhear their "gift of gab." Neighbors from a block over driving, take a second to blow their horn, wave and wish you a good day.

Then there is the true tell-tale sign that warm days are here and the promise of more are to come.........

The thunder of the bikes and ATVs.

Though those dudes and chics mostly profile as they ride up and down the street for hours, it's part of the interaction. Spring (and summer) would be so lost without it.

I missed these warm days....

It's these days I savor the most cause they don't last. They never do.