Welcome to the Front Porch.

Some things you don’t learn in calm water.

Some things only come from standing in the middle of the chaos.

When the wind is loud, when the ground won’t hold, and there is no one left to ask, what do I do next?'

This space wasn’t built from perfect moments.

It was built from moments that broke me and the

ones that put me back together again.

Here, you’ll find stories about:

loving too hard & learning when to let go
choosing yourself without apology
seeing people clearly, even when it hurts
rebuilding after everything shifts

Not the polished version.

The real one.

Authenticity is important for your growth

and to help others.

Because storms don’t just break things.

They reveal them.

Come on in.

Pull up a chair.

Around here we don't carry things alone.

A house with a large front window and a small hedge in front, with a wooden fence in the foreground.

↓ Latest from the Porch ↓

Southern Peanut 6/22/26 Southern Peanut 6/22/26

Hey Peanut

The moment when self-care stops being a luxury and becomes survival. This is a letter to the little girl who showed up & showed out , the one who stayed!

Southern Peanut 6/18/26 Southern Peanut 6/18/26

Hey Jen Neighbor.

I’ve never been more grateful a shoe broke.

Southern Peanut 6/9/26 Southern Peanut 6/9/26

Love, Hate, & Lay’s

Life would be easier if I hated you.

Southern Peanut 6/6/26 Southern Peanut 6/6/26

Hey Daddy,

Thirteen years ago, I lost my dad.

What I've learned since is that grief changes.

At first, I mourned what I lost.

Now, I mourn what he missed.

But more than anything, I'm grateful for the thirteen years he fought to stay and the legacy he left behind.

I'll save you a seat, old man. 💙

Southern Peanut 5/23/26 Southern Peanut 5/23/26

Barefoot & Rebuilding

Quite honestly, I couldn’t imagine anything below rock bottom, so I just stood there a while listening to the rain, kind of hoping the dead tree in my yard would finally fall.

Thinking:

“Come on… new kitchen.”

Southern Peanut 5/22/26 Southern Peanut 5/22/26

Before the Rain

10 years later, I can now see that the meme I shared was for me.

I knew myself.
I said it out loud.
I helped others find it in themselves and brace for impact.

So maybe I wasn’t as blindsided as I thought.

Maybe I was just lacking the number one thing every relationship needs:

TRUST.

In myself.

Adrienne Swendson 5/18/26 Adrienne Swendson 5/18/26

Every Storm Runs Out of Rain, Doesn’t it?

One night somewhere between heartbreak, midnight rain, and looking for my daddy in the sky, I almost forgot who I was.

Turns out the little girl looking for an adultier adult found one after all.

The Night I Didn’t Reach for Her

For the first time in years, I thought about tomorrow instead of just surviving the next minute.

Adrienne Swendson 5/2/26 Adrienne Swendson 5/2/26

When You See a New Trend… But Apply It to Your Blog Instead

The internet said “unhinged bio.”
I said… pull up a chair.

Adrienne Swendson 4/21/26 Adrienne Swendson 4/21/26

Before the Sand Was Off My Shoes

Some pictures are hard to look at. The beach was real. That smile was real. That sapphire was real. Before the sand was off my shoes, everything changed.

Adrienne Swendson 4/20/26 Adrienne Swendson 4/20/26

Anywhere You Are is Home

I have always believed the truest kind of love lives in the ordinary.

Southern Peanut 4/18/26 Southern Peanut 4/18/26

Porch Swing Angel

I do not understand how someone you shared something that sacred with can become so different. I do not understand how the breaking of a bond that sacred is something another person seems to live so with so effortlessly while it tears straight through you.

Southern Peanut 4/14/26 Southern Peanut 4/14/26

To the Girl who Misses Her Dad

When you grow up with a father who was present and steady, who was somehow both your safest place and your strictest teacher, you move through life differently. You are not just grieving a person. You are grieving a voice, a presence, a way of being loved that made the world feel more secure.