community.
I love those connections that make this big old world feel like a little village.
Gina Bellman
There are people that we come across in life who just keep showing up. Not by their own intention, but by the grace of something else.
I met this woman as we bobbed around together in a pool, our bellies swollen with pregnancy as we tried to gain some comfort in the weightlessness that water can bring: Brief little respites from backaches and joint pain, and always with laughter and that bright-eyed anticipation of knowing we were going to meet our babies within a few months.
I saw her again when I taught a postnatal yoga class at our local recreation center, then again as our boys started Montessori together.
Now our kids are in the same karate class.
The big old world manages to tuck us into these small pockets of community, yes?
My “real home” is about an hour-and-a-half and one timezone away by plane. Hers is 31 hours and a few timezones across the world. She is one of the kindest women I’ve ever met.
This week, she invited me into her home for a little traditional Indian masala chai lesson.
There were no measurements given for spices per se, but she taught me how to watch the tea and look for the color to change into a pretty caramel as it boiled.
She explained how to buy the ginger so that it would not curdle the milk, then she crushed the cardamom pods and cloves to release the spice into the chai.
She offered the tea in my favorite way: With two hands.
Two hands around your cup means that you’re fully present. Two hands around your cup means that you’re ready to listen and have a real conversation; no distractions, just that real sense of community and relationship.
The sense that you’re ready to offer more.
Like Indian street food, among other things. :)
I encourage to share your own space today, or on a day very soon.
Grow your village.
Comments