Last month I got the chance to meet up with an old friend. This particular friend has been apart of my life for more years then seems possible to my 24 y/o psyche! (Crap. Im not 24 y/o anymore, nor have I been for more years than I want to admit!)
When I was visiting with this friend, there were a few other people around, and it was abit chaotic. Lots of new people to meet. A few 'old' friends that I wanted to catch up with. Food to be ordered and enjoyed. Etc. We finally did get more of a chance to talk, and he asked me the general questions regarding job, Charlotte, family, life, etc. But then he asked me something that has made me really think lately. He asked if I had a community. Since I had never really been asked that before, I gave him an answer in the affirmative and moved on to something else. But it has really made me reflect.
What is ones community?
I have come to see it has the general people that one *chooses* to interact with on a weekly, maybe monthly, basis. It can be made up of immediately family, extended family, friends, church members, associates from work or hobbies, neighbors, etc. Its the people we make a priority. Its the people that one can count on for different needs or wants. Its the people that continually help us along our personal path. Its the people we feel a connection with. Its the people that we have shared mutual interests with.
There was a time in my adult life when I truly had this. My community was large and interlaced with people in many different areas of life. It made for lovely gatherings, parties, friendships, family time, memories, and more. I had opportunities to share in their joys, heartaches, excitements, contentments, and enjoyments. I had opportunities to serve them. I had the opportunity to learn from them and grow in ways that I would have never thought I would. I had the opportunity to find strength in their goodness and love. I had a community that I never realized I needed or that would be hard to find locally in the same magnitude.
I dont think that it was until that specific question was posed, that I realized what it was I have been missing and searching for for awhile now.
Im not thinking that that was a once in a life time opportunity, and that I need to just realize that reality of finding it again is unattainable. I have faith that there will be a time in which I can find this feeling of community again. When or where is the age old question in this life. As much as I wish that I had a current community here now with me, I just am glad that I have had that previously, in my adult life. And Im so grateful for the friends that I do have locally. I have so many dear friends all over, which makes choosing a plan to travel to, so very hard. But its the calls or texts for dinner, lunch, or a visit that I really cherish these days as my heart is lonely for in-person interaction.