There once was a wood plank porch...

 I grew up in a two-story old white farmhouse on a farm in Southwest Iowa. 

My parents still live there today.

If I had the time, I would tell you about all of the important things that happened there...

but I could go on for days, so I'll summarize:

I had an amazing childhood.

On the front of that house, there was a wood plank porch.

On that porch, we sat and enjoyed treats in the summer.

When the sun was a few thumbs above the horizon yet,

Dad would come home from a hard day of work,

pour himself an iced tea and sit on that porch.

The we would proceed to have "Relay Races."

I'm not sure how this began...

but we looked forward to it so much.

We would take turns following Dad's directions:

- Run to the mailbox and back

- Run backwards around the little tree

- Three laps around the house

- Hop on one leg to and from the middle tree

...you get the idea.

These were timed events and we would each get a turn.

I can still hear Dad sitting on the porch saying

"One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand..."

One summer, we heard a tribe of muffled "meows"

and discovered a sweet batch of baby kittens under that porch.

We just had to move the loose plank to get to them...

and everyone knew which plank was the loose one.

Long story short - when the decaying state of the porch made it no longer a suitable place to sit,

it was replaced with cement and new columns.

But the old columns mom kept. I'm not sure why, other than moms a keeper (in more ways than one)... and she gave me one years later. I kept it with me for about ten years... it moved with me more than once, but I still couldn't part with it.

Fortunately, I came across an idea - a way to incorporate it into my current home.

So now when I hang coats, I think about Relay Races...and baby kittens...and a loving home.