We just entered our third year at the charter school Gigi attends part-time. We've connected with families here and there but for some reason, the ones we've connected the most with have decided to move on and do something else for school unfortunately. This has been hard on Gigi.
She's an extreme extrovert who thrives on social interaction and is a fiercely loyal friend. Once you are a dear friend of Gigi, she will not forget you for a long time to come. I'm realizing that she still is shy in groups though. She tends to latch on to one or two close friends and has a hard time breaking in to already-established groups. I think she's actually a lot like me.
As her close friends have left our school one by one, she has seemed a bit lost at times when it comes to really gelling with the kids at school. We are with many of them three days a week now, with the new awesome social studies co-op that just started, and I'm really sensing this feeling of finding our people there.
I have community all around me-- the neighborhood crew, which overlaps a bit with our lovely community group, our larger church family (especially fellow leaders), my CBS ladies, our extended family, my online community-- I'm blessed beyond measure by these hearts and the people in my life.
It's been hard for me to mesh in with the school families, mostly because of feeling overwhelmed by always having two little ones in tow (with a mostly older crowd) and being so connected elsewhere. I think for a while now, I've seen our kids interact, and seen glimspes of their passions which seem to line up with many of mine, and I've sensed that these other moms could be really great friends.
The last couple of weeks, after a couple hours of intense studies at the co-op, we have all retreated to the beach for a few hours. And it's been pure joy to get to know these families more amidst studying and surfing and sun and sand digging.
The more I sense this growing sense of connection with our school community the more right it feels, like this is exactly where God wants us for this time.
In each sphere of our lives we have to find our people, and it's fun and beautiful to feel those relationships finally starting to take shape in this particular corner of our life.
This is Day 2 of 31 Days of the Life Poetic. View the other posts in this series here.
Photo by my friend Milly :)