Contemplating Community
Since the last post here, we've been contemplating community. (Maybe it's kept us too busy to even post...)
Some bugs are born into community... but quickly they disperse.
Some spiders seem to want to stick together for a few weeks after they enter the world, not quite ready to venture out on their own.
These wasps on our window like to live and work and build a house together.
A monkey sometimes appears to be alone... but always there are others just a few branches away.
The little frogs? If there's a friendly pond, it never seems to house just one, but then you can find a stray individual here or there.
I haven't found out what kind of moth this is whose larvae travel together in a clump, so they appear bigger and scarier than they really are.
And then there are the mushrooms, communal as can be, sprouting up on top of each other.
We people are often drawn to be with other people, like when it's my birthday and we tell everyone we know to stop on by and bring some food to share. A friend made this fancy frozen cake for Pili and me.
Alia is invited to some of the most spectacular birthday parties, with pinatas and games and group photo shoots.
I find community with this fun group of seniors, who enjoy English lessons with me and then invite me along on their field trips, like this one to the aquarium in Puntarenas...
... and with my English class at the Monteverde Institute, where the students' feeling of community helps them stick with these classes despite their busy lives.
School is a great community for Alia. There's time for play in her first grade classroom...
... and chances to join in community celebrations, like Día Antorcha...
... and the Día de la Independencia parade.
When Tropical Storm Nate hit Monteverde, the rushing river seemed ready to carry pieces of this community with it on a long journey.
But people came together to help each other, and to help re-build.
There are many times when we just want to be quiet or alone, maybe reading...
... maybe climbing...
... or swimming...
... or meditating.
Sometimes community means having one good friend to hang out with on a hammock...
... or a few friends willing to tromp through the mud on a hike...
... or a friend like Elieth willing to help us learn how to sew.
Sometimes community is about fitting in, but more often it's about being accepted for whomever you are, however you want to be right now, as a silly human being...
... or as whomever you happen to be, wherever in the world you find yourself.
