I have always loved homes with a front porch. A place to sit and rock, read the paper, have a cup of coffee, greet friends, or just take in the sights and sounds of the surrounding countryside. To me, a front porch is a place of refuge and a place to rest.

The home I grew up in was in Silver Spring, Maryland. It had a front porch and a side, screened in porch. I loved them both, and spent a lot of my childhood on both of those porches. I played with my dolls, did my homework, and entertained friends on those porches. Of all the rooms in our small home, the porch was by far my favorite place.

When my parents built a larger home on 8 acres in Brookeville, Maryland, it, too, had a front porch. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t think of it as a comfortable front porch. It was large and overwhelming.

I liked cozy; so, I spent most of my time on the screened in back porch or in my bedroom with the tiny balcony. I remember hanging a wicker swing from the ceiling of my bedroom at the foot of my bed, opening the double doors to the balcony, and swinging in my bedroom. If I could have a swing, I was all for it. I think I was born to swing and rock and enjoy a good cozy porch.

Of course, after marriage and children, I never did have a front porch of my own. I just dreamed that someday we would own a home with a beautiful front porch. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

After many apartments, a townhouse, a traditional single family home on 3 acres in Woodbine, Maryland (no porch), and a beautiful home in Charlotte, North Carolina (again, no porch), I was resigned to the fact that we would never have a home with a porch – any porch – where I could escape now and then.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing I want to escape from, except maybe “noise.” There is too much “noise” in this life. From television to background music, dogs barking and snoring, loud dishwashers to planes and helicopters flying overhead, traffic to waiters dropping trays of food in the kitchen of a restaurant … it’s sensory overload – at least it is for me.

We’ve been blessed, though, very very blessed. We have each other, we have our children and grandchildren, and we had my mother for 24 years. We’ve made numerous wonderful memories in each of our homes, the most important being that we were all together. But even with all the togetherness and blessings that abound, we all desire a place where we can escape now and then. A place to rest our weary minds, to reflect on our life, to read, to paint, to sew, to quilt, to listen to soft music, and in the evenings, to enjoy a big, expansive sky of twinkling stars.

I think that is why moving to the mountains in our retirement years was so important to me and Big Bear (Bob – my husband of 30 years). Now that our children are adults, married, mostly out of school, and building their own lives, it was time for “us” to do something special for each other. And that is what brings us here to where we are now in our life and marriage, and in our dreams of building a home to love, rest, and enjoy God’s magnificent creation in all its bounty.

We purchased a wonderful, almost 3 acre lot, in a beautiful mountain community in Lenoir, North Carolina. Views of Table Rock Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, and so many more incredible mountain views that you can’t help but feel you are a part of God’s Country.

After the sale of our home, it was difficult to walk away from the home where we had raised our children and cared for my mother. We were leaving a part of us behind. Time to move on. We ended up in Asheville, in an apartment complex where our daughter and her husband currently live. They were having their first child, and Bob and I knew that they would need our help with a new baby on the way.

We’ve lived in this apartment since May. It’s small by our living standards, but tolerable. It has a small balcony off the back and I enjoy sitting in the rockers and thinking about what all of this is for … our God, and family. That is all that matters to us anyway … God and family.

We are both feeling a bit claustrophobic in this apartment. We have 3 house plans that we love. And yes, they each have a front porch, but honestly, it is the smallest home of the three that I love the most. It just seems to have all we really need in a home that is just for “us,” even though it will someday be for our children and grandchildren, and hopefully loved by generations to come.

Even our daughter told us that we need to build the home that is right for us, and not build it with them in mind. Sure, they will visit often enough, and grandchildren will be part of that mix, but, we need to downsize, a lot, and she wanted us to know that it’s okay to build a smaller home. Considering that this is a home that will be left to our children some day (hopefully later rather than sooner), that was a relief. The last thing I want is a costly mortgage payment again.

Big Bear and I have talked a lot about what we want in our next home, and I can honestly say I just want a nice small home with 3 bedrooms and a fireplace, a nice kitchen, and a front porch. If I have that, I’ll be happy. And, if we want more space, we can build that nice detached 3 car garage with a 2 bedroom apartment above it at a later date.

And so I dream, every night, about this new home we are planning for, and hope is near to becoming reality in the coming year. A home with a front porch and rockers, a cozy fireplace on cold winter nights, fresh mountain breezes, quiet streets, beautiful mountain views, and a big sky. Sounds like heaven to me.

If you could have the house of your dreams, what would that look like in your mind?