The Back Porch View

    Many women are stay at home moms when their children are small, but I became a stay at home mom after my kids were grown.  So my stay at home mom anxieties are not about childcare or how to get time alone or how to juggle all the responsibilities that young parents have.  Anxiety, yep, I have an anxiety gene. If it can be worried about, I probably will. Even though I've chilled a lot in my retirement, and the flow of my life is like a deep river now, rather than shallow rapids, I still find it necessary to take some back porch time.  If I'm in the house, I feel it necessary to clean, or cook, or wash, or organize, or study, or plan, or research, you know the list. Even when I sit down on the loveseat to view a tv show, there's always something domestic calling out to me. It's never all finished, you know. So to escape and give my mind a break, I go out to my back porch.  I sit and look out at the apple tree and the wooded lot and the clear field.  I see the birds, and the squirrels, and if I'm lucky, the deer.  I sit there and just gaze at the clouds and blue sky or lately, the clouds and the grey sky, and I feel the anxiety slip away.  You see, when I look out at the view, there's not one thing I need to do but enjoy it.  Just look, and listen.  Sometimes, I get so relaxed that I fall asleep, and let me tell you, I do not nap, unless I'm on the back porch. I bet you have a back porch place, and if you don't, you probably need one. And that's my question for you tonight.  You got a back porch?  Do you use it?