Small Town Community

My glorious and anything-but-restful vacation is soon coming to an end, and presently I find myself with a few hours of down time found within a nearly constant barrage of coffee dates, breakfast dates, hang-out times and all of that fun stuff. Part of the reason for this mayhem is that I am in Goshen (my place of residence for five years, up until 3 months ago) for a wedding that took place yesterday. And weddings draw friends that you haven't seen for a while (my conspiring still-single friends and I joked about making sure we married off all of our other mutual friends at regular intervals so that we could continue to find excuses to fly/drive long distances to see each other). So I've been doing lots of catching up with other out-of-towners, all former students and classmates.

BUT as it turns out, living in a small community for even as short a span as 5 years gives one a great many connections, and I've been startled to walk down the streets of Goshen and know about half the people I see (as well as where they live, who they're related to and so forth). The highlight reel from my few brief days in Goshen:

• Going to see the local bluegrass band - The Goldmine Pickers - I recognized two of four members as regular customers in the bakery where I once worked and said a few words to each. (One I used to see regularly on the mill race, walking his dog, as I skied by.) Another band member I recognized as the son of two other fun customers at the bakery/restaurant.
• At the farmers market yesterday I met up with one vendor friend and caught up. She gave me a tip on a good U-pick blueberry farm and then offered some free cucumbers. I then proceeded to another stall, said hi to another vendor, bought some delicious sungold tomatoes, found out that he and his wife grew the flowers for the wedding I was getting later for, and that one of their farm employees was the same guy who was a classmate of mine... and playing the prelude for the wedding on his classical guitar.
• While walking around town with one friend, we stopped by a house to see another friend. We walked in and through - without knocking - and found the friend outside, eating with his parents. The dad - a contractor and my employer last summer - said hi, and the mom - my former song leading professor - invited us to some apple crisp that she was just bringing out to the table.
• This morning I woke up in the basement of the house owned by two former housemates (happily married as of last spring). I proceeded to walk four houses down and eat breakfast with a good friend (now living in Virginia) who was in town for the wedding and staying with her sister and brother-in-law. At about 11:30 I got a call that the brunch organized by my old Sunday school class was under way. I said goodbye to my friend and walked directly across the street to the house of my former pastor (also the officiating minister at the wedding) where I ate a delicious brunch and caught up with many good church friends.

So many friends and acquaintances... I'm almost overwhelmed. And yet, it's comforting to know people and to be surrounded by a community of people that I trust and am familiar with. And perhaps part of why I am overwhelmed now is that I recently moved to a very rural place in this country. And it's been a good three years since I've really had to make friends (I'm kind of out of practice). So as a result, I often find myself feeling somewhat isolated from community out in Hotchkiss. And I miss Goshen. Yet, maybe it's okay (or arguably good) to leave such a community in search of who I am (and how I react to a world when on my own... or with two (now one) dear college roommates). And really, I am starting to make friends and connections where I am now, so perhaps I am finding out what I kind of already knew: there is community everywhere - you just have to find it and invest in it. The only tricky part, as brought up in a recent conversation among friends, is how to reconcile the contrasting urges to explore the world and find a community. But I will have to wrestle with that later since I just got a call telling me that yet another hangout session is about to begin...