Creating the Village

I saw an old friend in the grocery store the other day.  As we chatted we fell into the comfortable pattern typical of old friends.  Whats up with the kids.  Our children were how we met.  Small neighbourhood in a large city.  From baseball to hockey and just proximity our kid’s lives were always merging together.  One day I was canvassing for the heart and stroke fund.  Back in the old days volunteers walked from door to door begging for money for a charity.  This particular day I met a man who lives just a block away.  He and his wife had lived there for 8 years yet we had never met.  We both found that odd.  Until I asked if he had children.  No kids.  Well there you have it.  We didn’t run in the same circles.  We weren’t the same age.  Our backgrounds were different.  And yet the same could be said for my old friend.  In fact the only thing we really had in common was our children.  I guess what I learned that day is that kids bind a community together.  They say it takes a village.  I think children create the village. 

PS.   The young couple down the street eventually had 2 boys.  Guess who babysat for them?  My two youngest children.  Full circle, right?