Back in the 1950’s, if you got a hankering to visit a neighbor, you did just that. No texting or calling. You simply went from your place to their place. Air conditioners were a rarity back then, and if it were a summertime visit, you would likely visit on the porch.

That’s how it was done during my early childhood.

A few August days ago, I got a hankering to visit a couple of friends who not only recall those days of impromptu visiting but still practice greeting friends on their porch in Temple Hill, Kyle and Linda Bowles.

“My job today is to do the weed eating, and Kyle is going to mow the yard,” Linda remarks as we become idle in comfortable chairs on the front porch. She points to a row of Dragon Wing Begonias in the yard and adds, “I’ve had those flowers for years, but the wind broke one yesterday.”

Three motorcycles roll by on the 35-mph road just beyond their yard. Kyle and Linda wave, and one rider waves back. None of them stop and visit today, like so many on Highway 63 often do.

During recent years Kyle and Linda have gained a folksy reputation for offering an “open porch” policy. Kyle often has a selfie made of himself with visitors and posts those photos on his Facebook page.

“I don’t know what the fascination is with the pictures,” Linda ponders. “Sometimes I wonder if they just come to pose.”

“One time a family came by and asked if they might take out their instruments and play a tune or two,” Kyle says. He talks about another time when a best-selling author of 40-plus books stopped by for a while. Most of the time, he says, “its friends and family.”

“What do you usually talk about during these visits?” I ask.

“Sometimes country music, or health problems, or the weather.” He pauses and looks toward Temple Hill School across the road, and then he adds, “Sometimes we talk about how short life is and our memories.”

As he stares straight ahead, Kyle, who is now 78, says “When I close my eyes, I can see the old school behind that one.”

Linda was in the last graduating class in the old school and recalls some memories there.

Then Kyle talks about a Valentine he got from a third-grade classmate at the old Slick Rock School.

“I may still have that card somewhere, I don’t know, but I remember what it said: ‘I would climb the highest mountain or sail the ocean blue. I would do anything’ was on the front, and then on the inside it said, ‘If I could get away from you!’ I thought she was my girlfriend back then.”

I share what little I remember of my third-grade girlfriend. “She had cute brown eyes, and I remember how sweet she was when we played Red Rover at recess, but she moved away after that year, and I never saw her again. I don’t even have a Valentine Card to remember her.”

We trade memories a while longer and then before I go, Linda takes a photo of Kyle and myself for Facebook documentation. It’s been a good, unplanned visit.

On the way home I suspect Kyle may be searching for that old Valentine. I hope he finds it.