Week Eight

The village.

For as long as memory serves me, I have been most at home with myself. Perfectly content to be lost in my own thoughts, only relying on inner turmoil to make final decisions. I don’t even know what I would have been considered as a teenager, though I doubt loner would apply in the typical sense. I never considered the word ‘loner’ to have a negative connotation, because I could completely relate to it. Maybe even had a twinge of envy towards my classmates that preferred to be alone and wore the confidence to do so like a badge. I had a lovely group of friends throughout adolescence, we were close and though that circle has gotten smaller with age I would still do anything for those girls. There is a fondness, a bond that is forged during those tender years that even time cannot erase. Although I was content to be independent, I have a sincere gratitude for those relationships. As an adult I have discovered that there is a label for people like me. Social introvert. It fits perfectly, and I often wonder if I might have had a better understanding and peace with myself had I known that my tendencies were perfectly natural and shared by many others.

These musings bring me to today. The village. As an adult, I have pushed past my comfort zones because I knew it was entirely necessary. In the process I have met women who are strong, weak, angry, independent, reserved, and all the above. They are beautiful in all of their inadequacies and fierce in all of their struggles. I have watched some endure conflict in silence, while others band together to heal their wounds.

It almost brings me to tears every time I think about how incredibly blessed I am to have these women in my life. We are not a circle, not a clique, many of these ladies don’t even know each other. Though I rely on each for very different reasons. God placed each and every one in my life for a reason and I would do anything that I could to help them in a time of need. The most satisfying feeling is knowing that they would do the same for me. We are raising our children together, being a shoulder to cry on, the first to send an SOS out for help is one of us falls on hard times, the list goes on. You see I made the realization, the tight-knit village of years past never died. Of course it has changed and morphed over time to accommodate for the modern world, but the underlying warmth, life and most importantly – necessity – has never changed. The village is just as important today as in years past.