Connection

My face lit up when I saw her, an unexpected sighting of an old friend. She had moved away a few years ago and was in the area for the day. We chatted for a bit before my meeting was to begin and she needed to head out. But before she left she said, "Sarah, you don't know how much it means that you even talked to me. Where I live right now I am some weird commodity. I am not Catholic enough for the Catholics, rich enough for the wealthy or crunchy enough for the granola crunchies."
Her words pierced me. Here is a lovely woman, longing for connection and not finding it.
My meeting was the steering committee for the new Westside Enrichment Day that will be starting in the Fall. There was five of us there but the heart of the meeting was connection. We want our kids to connect with other like-minded kids. We want them to know their names, their interests, who they are and develop long lasting friendships. In order to accomplish that we decided we have to be very intentional in our planning to create that environment.
The meeting was wonderful. In just under 4 hours time we mapped out what classes will be offered, the focus of each class and arranged the enrollment form. But more importantly than all the physical stuff we accomplished, I witnessed the budding of relationship. In the time we were there we accomplished more relationally than we did the whole 10 weeks of Enrichment Day prior. And so did our kids. While the moms discussed, the kids played for hours in the McDonald's Playland. And they enjoyed themselves. It was truly a beautiful afternoon for me.
It looks like I found my place to fit in. A new community. A solid connection with others on the same path. I pray my friend can find the same.