It is said that familiar fragrances and other smells can transport you back to an earlier time. I believe sounds can do that also. This morning, I went outside to cut roses. I came back into the house through the screened porch and let the door slam behind me. At that moment, I was transported back to the childhood of my children and my own childhood as well.
When my children were young, we lived in a vintage, remodeled home with a screen door in the front and a screen door in the back. The front door opened on to a large porch with a wooden floor. My three daughters were an active bunch, coming in and out and in and out. Those were the days when it was safe to play outdoors, to run a block down the road to the grandparent's house, to go to the neighbor's to play. Each weekend was filled with play, and running, bike riding, and the sound of happy children's voices. However, what I remember most as I stood at the kitchen window washing dishes, is the sound of the footsteps running on the porch and the slamming of the screen door as each girl came in and out, engaged in the business of playing.
When I was a girl, I also lived in a vintage home with a wooden front porch and screen doors at all four entrances to the house. Some of my best memories are of going in and out the screen door and letting it slam behind me. There is just something very nostalgic about that sound even though it was the catalyst for both my mother and grandfather to remind me (in a not so soft voice) to "not slam the door".
As a child, a slamming screen door sounds like freedom; as the mother of active children, a slamming screen door sounds like contentment and unrestrained joy; and at my age, a slamming screen door can still evoke wonderful memories as it slams behind me and stirs up echoes of the past.
I really don't want to return to my own childhood or the childhood of my children. However, I'd love another house with a screen door in the front.
3 comments:
Isn't it funny how that happens. If I close my eyes and remember, I can hear my dads car pulling into the driveway, bumping over an old manhole cover that was in the middle of it.
beautifully written. i remember that sound too with great fondness.
I too, remember the slam of the screen door. I often think of that sound with the same feelings of nostalgia you express. It also reminds me we didn't have air conditioning! So as the years move on we lose something and we gain something.
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