For the last 24 hours 2 ideas for posts have been rolling around my brain like the marbles (my weird sense of humour wanted to write - eyeballs... or just balls.) I pick.... the first. I will save the other one for tomorrow!
Community means a hundred different things to a hundred different people. My definition has changed throughout my short life. It has included the community that was a close knit private school, a deeply intertwined summer camp, small town after small town, neighbourhoods, jobs, interests. A few years ago I moved downtown, off the hill. I feared that I would not find community, there were fewer parks, I didn't know anyone, how would I connect?
All these worries subsided within a few months and this urban community is the one I treasure most. My dry-cleaner's name is Auto, I also know they names of my baristas, the people who bag my groceries, and the servers and hostesses at my favourite restaurants. There are people who I recognize from walking the same blocks to get coffee or new shoes who overtime became the people I most enjoy running into. Friends from eye contact. What I treasure about this community is that the interactions are mutually out of a desire for contact with others. People who are looking to share with someone a simple moment, a story, a message. It is a beautiful part of my life.
I often thought I would live in a small quaint town, thought again about living in a 'nice' neighbourhood, a safe, family oriented neighbourhood. There is NOTHING wrong with either of these options. In fact their pros far out weight any possible cons one could come up with but I want something else now. I love my funny little community, a mish-mash of all walks of life, of all nationalities, of people just out there looking for a connection over coffee.
Community means a hundred different things to a hundred different people. My definition has changed throughout my short life. It has included the community that was a close knit private school, a deeply intertwined summer camp, small town after small town, neighbourhoods, jobs, interests. A few years ago I moved downtown, off the hill. I feared that I would not find community, there were fewer parks, I didn't know anyone, how would I connect?
All these worries subsided within a few months and this urban community is the one I treasure most. My dry-cleaner's name is Auto, I also know they names of my baristas, the people who bag my groceries, and the servers and hostesses at my favourite restaurants. There are people who I recognize from walking the same blocks to get coffee or new shoes who overtime became the people I most enjoy running into. Friends from eye contact. What I treasure about this community is that the interactions are mutually out of a desire for contact with others. People who are looking to share with someone a simple moment, a story, a message. It is a beautiful part of my life.
I often thought I would live in a small quaint town, thought again about living in a 'nice' neighbourhood, a safe, family oriented neighbourhood. There is NOTHING wrong with either of these options. In fact their pros far out weight any possible cons one could come up with but I want something else now. I love my funny little community, a mish-mash of all walks of life, of all nationalities, of people just out there looking for a connection over coffee.
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