About Cindy's Porch
Cindy's Porch is dedicated to Tamy, Sandi, Sandy, Julie, and Lorretta (the wonderful ladies with the flowers on their pens). You don't know how much the words, "We still want you" meant to me. Thank-you.
 What's so special about Cindy's Porch? It's a real place. The porch itself is very simple. It is a small two-butt porch that overlooks our front yard. My husband wants to make it larger, but I like it the way it is. We have two chairs and a small plastic table with a candle lantern on top. In the winter we use a kerosene heater to take the chill off. In the summer I always put up two geranium hanging baskets. I love them. A part of my early morning activity is to go outside in the cool summer air and water all the plants on my porch. It is how I say good morning to my house (plus it keeps those plants alive during the heat!). Oops, I am on a tangent here - back to Cindy's Porch... for the past four years, my husband and I have had regular "date nights" on our front porch. Sometimes we share a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers, sometimes simply a glass of water after our evening walk. This is where we talk - and I mean REALLY talk. About the kids, each other, our work, our house, and whatever else comes to mind. And every time we talk, we start to brainstorm. The most amazing ideas come out. In the past, I have shared many of these ideas with you on previous websites. And now, I am so thrilled to share them with you on this website - named for the place that the ideas were born: Cindy's Porch. Welcome! You never know who will drop in.
From Cindy's Porch...The Robin
On March 12, 2004, about an hour after an ugly phone call, a robin flew up against my living room window and landed on my front porch. I thought it was dead. I was already trying to figure out how I was going to pick it up without touching it (I am a little squeamish) when I saw the tiniest bit of movement. It was alive. That robin must have laid there in stunned silence for nearly an hour. I kept my dogs away from the window to give the little bird the peace it needed. I shooed away a cat that was lurking nearby. And slowly, very slowly the robin began to move. Tears flowed when I saw it shake its feathers and flutter its wings. Suddenly, the little bird that I thought had died, stretched out onto its feet and flew away.
March 12, 2004 was the day, that I too flew into a window (so to speak). At the end of that one phone call, something I loved with all my heart disappeared. Something I had spent the last three years creating with every bit of passion and dedication that I had. It took the owner of the company less than 15 minutes to change all the website passwords and shut down all email contact with the very thing I loved and built. I too sat there in stunned silence not sure just what had happened. I couldn't believe that what existed on March 11th, all the joys, the promises, the friendships, the laughter, and the love was for naught, because on March 12th all of it was gone.
My husband kept the dogs and cats away. He protected me and allowed me the peace to slowly heal. He reminded me over and over again of how proud he was of me for standing up for the very principles that make me special. He reminded me that the last three years did hold special memories. He reminded me that I had helped many people with the work I had done. He held me and comforted me. Unlike the robin, it took much more than an hour for me to begin to flutter my wings again. In fact, it has taken me several months to rediscover my strengths and my passion. Cindy's porch is where the ideas had come from in the past, and Cindy's porch is where they are going to come from in the future. The smile is back on my face and the joy is back in my heart.
So, to the hundreds of thousands of people who knew me before simply as "Cindy", I am proud to say - "I AM BACK!" And to those who never knew me before, I say, "WELCOME!" It is time to have some fun.
Take care of you,
Cindy
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