Community

The word for today is COMMUNITY. It is a long word; like time, it is a concept; like time and window, it is manmade. As soon as I write that I know that while it is manmade, it is not only of man. All living creatures, all organisms exist in COMMUNITY. Dogs in COMMUNITY for instance are called a pack; geese a gaggle, and so on.

This morning I was ironing a table cloth at my neighbors' house. We might as well form a commune I said. My dog is part of the pack at her house. I am part of the pack at her house. I share morning tea with my neighbor; soup or salad for lunch. I watch Presidential news conferences and panels of pundits with her and her husband on their enormous flat screen television.

Tonight my neighbor, who I will finally admit, is also my friend, is having a dinner party. It started as a party for my 50th birthday. I must have been very concerned about my 50th birthday, which has now come and gone, because I made a very big deal of it, in a preemptive way. The dinner party, which my friend originally planned to celebrate my birthday,is now a celebration for her husband and for two friends of ours as well. Now that I am over 50, I have finally learned how to share. I want to recognize though that my friend recognized, and honored, my need for acknowledgement.

After I ironed the table cloth, I helped her pick up the dining room. We put the extra leaf in the table. I took the fine china down from the high cabinet that she could not reach. Another friend will come over early to help her cook. Yet another friend will bring a bottle of wine. And, on this Friday evening, our community will be defined in this way--six people, two connected by marriage, two connected by work, and the rest of us by the loose ribbons of friendship, sharing food, drink, and the incredible blessing and comfort of companionship.

There are many more paragraphs to write about COMMUNITY. When I start to think about COMMUNITY in my life, the COMMUNITY I found and left in Portland, Maine, the COMMUNITY that exists when I join my best friend at her summer house in Tamworth, NH, the COMMUNITY I observed when I walked along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn with my friend Candace, I get confused. I know I am drawn to these places--or to the idea of these places. I envy the people who I think have COMMUNITY. I envy the people I think belong. And, I get overwhelmed by the idea of writing down all my thoughts. So I just wrote about my COMMUNITY today. TIME to go. My COMMUNITY awaits.