The Porch Light Left Burning

Somewhere along the way, the porch slipped quietly from the face of the American home, taking with it something tender and familiar. It was never simply a roofed threshold or a place to shake rain from one’s shoes. It was where evenings slowed, where screen doors sighed shut behind children, where grandparents rocked in the shade, and where neighbors called from the sidewalk as though every passing hour belonged to everyone…