Burbamania

We live in a pretty little suburban area, on a cul-de-sac, with nice green lawns and lots of trees.  The other day I looked out the front door and saw it was a nice day, not too hot, and thought it would be good to sit out on the lawn and enjoy the sun, breeze, and greenery.  But suddenly I realized, people don’t do this in the suburbs.  You never ever see anyone sitting out on a lawn chair in their front yard.  Never.  People would look at you and think you are weird.  There are no porches or any facility for sitting or hanging out in the front of the house.This is absurd I thought.  Rural people sit on their porches.  Way back when I remember my grandparents homes had porches in the front of the house.  Where and when did this become taboo.  Now days, in the burbs, if you do any sitting around outside the house its in your private back yard, or a patio.  And the back yards in the burbs all have walls and fences.  It would be unheard of to have a unobstructed view of your neighbor’s house.  Every single house, block after block has fences and walls all around the side and back of their property, if not the front.  But always in the back.

So, I am wondering, when did this become the agreed upon convention.  It is a definitely solid agreement that this is the way things are supposed to be, but how did it get there.  I am sure that a new born baby doesn’t have these ideas.  It me makes consider that there must be many more such agreements that have secretly slipped into my mind without notice.  How many agreements have I made along the way to accepting life in the burbs.  Maybe its time to move to the country, and sit at the front of my house, and look at the land and trees.