On Community: We Take Care of Each Other

I had a beautiful lesson on community this past week. DH was out of town, and I gave myself a concussion. In the days that followed the clunk of the bike rack on my forehead, friends came from every direction to care for me and my family.

Two friends set everything aside on Wednesday... one to take me to the ER, keeping me calm during the three hours it took to get my diagnosis. The other took my kids for the day, keeping them calm, entertained, and fed.

I returned home to phone calls from several other people at the parish, who had either heard about my concussion, or had seen that I was "not quite myself" at mass Wednesday morning.

Pastor emailed me to check on me... he'd gone looking for me at a local hospital, and couldn't find me (we'd gone to a different hospital).

Another friend took all of the kids for three hours (over dinner) on Thursday evening, so I could get my school shopping done at the homeschool convention that was in town this weekend.

After the first afternoon, when word spread around the parking lot at school pickup, my email inbox and voicemail box were full of concern, offers to help, take the kids, make a meal, etc.

Yesterday, Princess' godmother, who lives 1,000 miles away, offered to drop everything and get the next flight out, to help me this week. DH is leaving town again for a week, and I am still not back to "normal" yet.

I am overwhelmed, to say the least. Touched to the deepest part of my heart. So grateful for this community... for my parish, for my family, for the many blessings God has placed in my life.

This afternoon, I was making a meal to bring to a friend whose father died last Monday, and who has had her own struggles this week. BigBro asked what I was doing. I told him that we were going to bring dinner to our friends, because that's what we do: we take care of each other. Just as our friends stepped up to take care of us this week, we do the same for others. That's what it means to live in a community: we take care of each other.