Sweeping Porches

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Lori Finding Joy
  1. We have been camping. I say “camping” in a quite tongue-in-cheek manner; camping used to mean hiking into the Pemigewasset wilderness in NH or staying in a remote site up at Baxter State Park, but now means renting a cabin and a golf cart at a cartoon-themed franchise campground with a pool and a water park. The things we do for our children.
  2. The kids had a grand old time. The little guy loved the golf cart – too much, frankly, as there were several times we caught him trying to drive it (the key was kept well out of his reach). The girls loved the pool and the water slide. I loved the porch, where I actually got to periodically hang out and knit and read. I actually got my oldest to play Uno with me, until she got mad when I won 5 games in a row and decided she’d rather watch Moana for a bit. I made my husband buy the annual six-pack of Stella Artois (we don’t really drink) and we never even opened it. I’m not going to say it was restful — whoever said vacations with kids is just parenting in a new location was spot on — but it was a nice change of scenery. (And yes, I swept the porch while singing Noah Kahan lyrics like “I’ll leave the porch light on” and “I’m important if it’s only for letting dogs out, sweeping porches, to make me nothing, take me way back”.)
  3. I was looking for something I wrote awhile ago, and while digging through my drafts I found a bunch of essays I wrote back in 2021 through a class at GrubStreet. I’ve taken a number of their “Six Weeks, Six Essays” classes over the past…gosh, almost 20 years! Some in person, when I lived in the Boston area, and then online since moving back to Maine. I love those classes, but I can’t find a way to carve out time to do them as they are typically in the evenings (dinner and bedtimes) or on the weekends (sheer kid chaos in all directions). I always love reading what I write in these workshops, despite knowing they are not in any way, shape or form publishable. Maybe this fall there will be something I can plug into again.
  4. This weekend was the agricultural fair in the small town I grew up in, and we almost always go. This. year made me sad because Aunt Linda wasn’t there, and usually she’d sit and talk with me and let the little guy eat her ice cream. The kids had a good time though, the girls like to see the animals and still enjoy the farm play area. The little guy just wanted to ride the kiddie tractors. I got some fried scallops which he ate, thinking they were chicken nuggets. Adding fish sticks to the grocery list!
  5. Monday I had the day off from work, which I thought I was going to spend catching up on laundry and doing at least one of all the things I never get to do like practice guitar, write, read, sew, and/or knit. Alas. The 9-year old was beyond overtired and refused to go to camp, and so I wound up running errands with her all day instead. *sigh* It feels selfish to want my own time, and yet my sanity depends on it. Also, I know in my bones that there will come a time when I will want nothing more than to spend a day with my girl, and she will be too busy with her own life, so I need to soak up this time while I have it. Either way, Friday (my next day off) cannot come fast enough.

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About Lori Finding Joy

Native Mainer. Compulsive knitter. Occasional writer. Bird watcher, star gazer, window dreamer. Mom.
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