I followed my little girl as she cautiously made her way up our stairs for bedtime.  Stairs are a new thing for her so I had time to pause and give one more glance at the kitchen and Nelson.

Despite how hard I worked on our new house to force it into being a home, I was still surprised when I saw our kitchen.  A kitchen that unmistakably belonged to my family.  With the overdecorated fridge.  The too many college era pint glasses in the cabinet.  The hidden pacifiers.  The rooster reminding us to keep a sense of humor.

The kids now make it more of our home every day, more than I ever could have planned for them.  Our neighbors, our new haunts are quickly forming the net that will be our new community.  Although I cannot force the net to materialize as fast as I would like it, I gently encourage it and patiently wait for it to happen.

Community cannot ever be underrated, no matter what form it takes.

Two months before circumstances forced our decision to move, I created a blog and twitter account for Mama Schmama and started cautiously feeling my way into the blogging community.  I started reading mom blogs and quickly realized my ideas were used up, my writing wasn’t all that great, and my grammar was putrid.  It felt shitty but people followed me anyway, they visited my blog despite my aesthetically placed punctuation, and commented on my posts.  I participated in blog hops, especially Finish the Sentence Friday, and I found groups of bloggers who were strong, creative, supportive, informative, inspiring, and funny.  Oh my god, funny.  I met people who describe their world and make me feel like I am there, that help me see beauty everywhere. For as long as I can remember, community has been vital to my life but it was from a blog I read earlier this year that taught me a community can take many forms and that we must accept the imperfections within.  Just what I needed to hear during this phase of change in our life.

I would be an ungrateful liar if I did not tell you how bloggers have become part of my community.  Their words helped me form a plan for our move, laugh, keep perspective. And of course, learning to participate online taught me how to put myself out there- to get that community started- even when I didn’t get the most encouraging response.  My posts with 1 comment and the old lady with the gorgeous garden who won’t say ‘Hi’- I’m thinking of you.

So, thank you.  As I make this new place our place- I’ll remember with gratitude how my online community contributed to that.  I hope to share with you our new adventures and it is my greatest hope that I will be able to give back, to support and encourage others, and form part of the net that our awesome online community has created.