The Raft

I am thankful for community.  I am thankful for Hebron.  I am thankful for the wonderful friends and families that have become our community here in town.

This afternoon I took the kids to a birthday party.  Being relatively new to the whole birthday-party-racket I was not sure what to expect.  It was a "Zumbatonic" so I figured the kids would dance, have cake, open presents and head home.  There's not a lot of time at these catered-type events so I didn't assume we'd be eating so I fed the kids before we left.
At the party they danced, ate pizza, danced, limboed and danced some more then ate cake.  The birthday boy did not do presents at the party which is a little disappointing but a recent trend - the trade off for the timing of a Zumba (or gymnastics or karate or what-have-you) party.

The part that gets me, gets me each time we go to a gathering of this sort - a townie-meeting, if you will:  How many people we know, how many friends our kids have, how many of those parents have become our friends and how many of the moms that I have known for my kids' entire lives.  Now, almost-5 and just-3 isn't a really long time, I know but it's all relative.
We've been in town for over 6 years and things have really picked up over the last 12 - 18 months.  Those months have brought us school, soccer, birthday parties etc...  these events have led to dinners, fund raisers, parties and getting to know couples and families that we otherwise would not have any connection with.

And so, I am thankful for community.  This one, in particular.