Communities are funny things.  We tend to connect with people around us as our vulnerability grows and our common interests flourish.

Admittedly, we didn’t really know a lot of people in our neighborhood until we started to have our kids…and they started to have their kids…and our kids started to know each other!  Pretty soon, we went from a newly married couple just doing our thing, to new parents who were running into the same familiar faces everyday at the park.  We shared the same sleepless nights…the same new anxieties…the same dark circles under our eyes.  We suddenly shared this common ground aside from our street name and it began to bind us all together in this remarkable way.

Halloween soon became this giant reunion after dark…the bus stop became our morning coffee dates…and the playground became therapy as we vented about our latest parenting challenge.  These people…these faces…these fellow soldiers who walked among us became our life line as this chapter of our life began to unfold.

I met Katie for the first time at one of my weddings.  Though, it turns out, Katie had been at numerous of my weddings.  We are tied by a close network of brides that I’ve photographed over the years…a circle of beautiful women who stayed close as time passed.  It also turns out that Katie lived about a two blocks from our old house.  TWO BLOCKS!  She walked her lovely dog past our bus stop each morning as we waited to send our kids off to school for the day.  But sadly, we didn’t know each other.  Apparently we weren’t bound by the same desperate need for caffeine at 5am!!!!

Until now!

Katie and Steve are expecting their first little wonder very soon and in light of this great news, we finally found ourselves together; chatting…laughing…finding all of our common ground!  And it was amazing in every way imaginable.

And while I’m sad that I won’t be down the street to see them walk by with their stroller…or share news at the park as their little one learns about sand…I know they are starting their family in one of the best neighborhoods possible…filled with the best people possible.  They will find joy, laughter and support in the faces that surround them.  They will find sympathetic ears and familiar dark circles and coffee at every turn.

They will find community…a village…a place to walk them through the trials of parenting.

And when all else fails…I will show up on their doorstep with coffee…a camera…and an excuse to visit the place we once called home!