A Feeling of Connectedness

The kids are back in school this week.  Since their new school is a little closer to our home we have decided that we will either bicycle or walk as much as possible and, so, this week we have taken to two wheels.  It has been great for all of us.  Fresh cool morning air, blood pumping through our bodies, heat from our bodies.  It also gets the kids energy used up.  All good really.

Anyhow....what about connectedness?  For those of you who have been reading Ideeahs for sometime you know that I am taking time off work.  Of all the great things that this has brought to me, like time with my family (and just plain old time) it has given me a feeling of connectedness to the community we live in.  When I was working I spent my days a 45 minute drive away.  Today I spend my days in the community where I live.  

My feeling of connectedness today came from a conversation I was having with one of our neighbours, in the schoolyard.  We were surrounded by other parents we knew and commenting on how great it is to know so many people in the community.  Specifically she mentioned that she had bumped into my wife's business partner at a local bakery.  The business partner mentioned that she was coming to our house and the neighbour said "That's great....I just saw them biking towards their house.  They'll be home soon."  We all know each other, keep in touch and trust each other enough to care.

I like the fact that I can now walk into a bakery, coffee shop, grocer, butcher, bank or park and bump into someone I know.  In the past I was my wife's husband, my kid's father.  Now I am myself, these people know me and we have things in common that we can talk about.  While I was working 45 minutes away I was a stranger in my own community.  No longer.  I like that...a lot.

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