This is where it all began. Well, that is my relationship with Being, the Divine or God. Whatever you choose to call the experience of pure love and acceptance from an unseen feeling of consciousness. I remember from a very young age; prior to age 5 certainly, my maw (grandmother) opened the front door of her home on an early September morning. A light the color of pure white burst through the door frame. It covered the entire opening to the outside. I stood before it in awe. I was completely mesmerized by the invitation to cross the threshold into its sanctuary . . . the front porch.
My maw proceeded as if she didn’t see this bright light. With her coffee in hand, she held the door open for me to walk through. I was snapped into moving forward at the call of her voice, “LISA, come on outside.”
Lisa became my “nickname” from my maw immediately after I was born. You see, with only a 4th grade education; she found my name “Melissa” to be a tongue twister and difficult to pronounce. Lisa is how I am known among all my relatives in Mitchell County, North Carolina.
As I gently moved forward into this beautiful white light, I felt safe, loved and curious. It was magical to my eyes. Yet, the moment I crossed the threshold the light vanished. Oh, I thought, this is a game of hide and seek. Little did I know at the time, God never hid again; yet I sought for many years to be with this magnificent Being.
Four wrought iron decorative columns held the roof over the porch. I loved swinging around them like Gene Kelly did around the streetlight pole in “Singin’ in the Rain”. There were three cane back chairs, one bulky sturdy big wood planked chair and two rockers. All these chairs were hand made by the men on my Paw’s side of the family. My paw’s cousin had a business called “Woody’s Chair Shop”. Woody is the last name of my grandparents. From the front door this porch extended out a good 6 feet to a couple of concrete steps that would take you to a long concrete walkway to the road. The porch flooring was pine wood slabs painted a slate blue color. There was another door off the porch that opened to the kitchen. This was very convenient since most of the year all the meals were eaten outside on the porch. My paw, his brother and nephew built this porch together in the 1930s. I really became acquainted with this porch in the early 1970s.
The front porch became homebase!