Finding Community

Today I had the fun treat of getting to hang out and have lunch with my friend Sarah (the one who inspired me to participate in Reverb10) and her sweet kiddos, Hiba and Matthias.  They were in the area visiting family for a few days and I was so excited to get to snag some time with them before they made the several hour journey home.  Hiba is seriously one of the funniest little kids I have ever met - she's two years old going on about twenty and I could listen to her little comments and perspective on life all day.  Today I got a big kick out of her telling me that she needed to be very careful not to break my Christmas tree because the ornaments on it are "very, very glass."  So cute.  Matthias is a sweetie, too, and I'm hoping he and Liam will be buddies as they grow up, since Matthias is only 8 months older than Liam.

Sarah gets major points for getting all three kids to at least look in the same direction!

 

Anyway, here's the reverb prompt of the day:  Community.  Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010?  What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

The first thing that popped into my mind when I read this prompt was the memory of the first couple of months after Liam was born.  During all those long middle of the night feeding & rocking sessions I'd try to fill my time praying for my new little baby or singing to him, but by four in the morning it was usually all I could do to keep my eyes open and not be in tears from being so tired.  In those moments I knew I could count on either my friend Heidi or my friend Emily having been on Facebook within that hour (if not being on at the same time I was).  They both had babies about a few weeks or so after I did; and even though it might sound really lame, there was something so comforting and encouraging about being able to sit in Liam's dark room in my little rocking chair with Facebook in my hand and know that at least two other people were going through the exact same thing I was.  It was like a little mini on-demand support group.

I'm incredibly blessed to have a very rich community around me - I think it's the area of my life where I am most blessed.  I may not be brilliant or have a beautiful voice or lots of money, but I have some AMAZING people in my life.  Since it's difficult for me to think of an area of my life where I'm not around people I deeply respect and love spending time with, I won't detail all of the places I found community in 2010.   In 2011 I would like to more deeply connect with my community of friends who live far away.  Staying in touch with people who aren't part of my daily life is one of my weaknesses.  I care about these friends and love hearing from them/seeing them when it happens, but I really stink at being disciplined to send emails or make phone calls.  I don't think my actions communicate my love and concern for these friends, so I really want to do a better job of cultivating those relationships.