I’m excited to be a part of author Pavarti K. Tyler’s Celebrating Community Blog Hop. From August 16 to August 19, participants in the Hop will be writing about friendship, family, happiness, togetherness, and (my favorite topic, obviously) food. Want to see who else is participating? Click on the banner at the top!
Today, we’re all writing about our favorite family or community picture, and the story behind it.
First things first: Life got in the way yesterday, and I didn’t get around to writing about what community means to me, which was the topic for the 17th. I want to answer that first, since it directly relates to why I chose the picture I did for today’s post.
Community is one of those malleable terms that means a completely different thing depending on who you ask. For some, it means togetherness. For others, family. Yet others picture their neighbors, or their neighborhood. Or Habitat for Humanity volunteers building homes.
For me, community means comfort.
No, not physical comfort, but mental comfort. When you’re within a community, you’re at ease to be yourself–or you should be. Those in your community should accept you, whole and unchanged, without expectation of being anything different. When you’re in a true community, you’re free.
The first time I really experienced this kind of freedom was in high school (I know, right?! Isn’t high school supposed to be filled with angst and peer pressure?). This is also why, even though it is impossible for me to pick out a single picture to call my favorite, this is definitely one of the ones that makes the list:
Pictured, from left to right: Julie, Priscilla, Rosa María, me. Hanging from the roof beam: Marcos. In extreme closeup: Ju Il.
These five people were my best friends in high school. Rose, Priscilla, Julie, and I still keep in touch. I love this picture because it encompasses everything that is high school–the bad hair (just look at me), the poor wardrobe choices (two of us wearing overalls?), the overconfidence (the roof beam, Marcus? Really?). It also captures every single one of our personalities, most particularly mine (bossy, much?).
I remember this day very clearly, just like I remember many other days like it. Happy times. Sure, the pressures of high school were still there (particularly for a group like mine, which was comprised most decidedly of rather nerdy individuals), but, overall, it was easy like Sunday morning. They were my community. And, with them, I was free to be me.
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What a fun pic! I decided to show the Globe…but seeing your post made me want to dust off some of my boxes and books of old pictures and have a look! May you always be happy and surrounded by fantastic people!
It’s so much fun to go through old pictures. I love it. Although I’m always amazed at how good I looked (even when I look doofy, like I do in this picture). At the time, I thought I looked awful/fat/ugly/insert-derrogatory-self-hate-adjective-here. It’s funny in a sad way, haha.
You look hot in overalls
Pavarti K Tyler recently posted..Happiness is a box of hugs!
HA! Thankfully, I am not one of the ones wearing overalls. (Although I did have the exact same pair–if I recall correctly, we had all gone out and gotten the same overalls. Not even as a joke. Sigh.) That Spalding shirt I was wearing (WHY WAS I WEARING THAT?) was about three sizes too big. I think I was trying to be cool. And, obviously, I succeeded.
Great Post:) I have been nominated for The Sunshine Award http://lynnthompsonbooks.blogspot.com/ and wanted to pass it on to you:0 Stop by anytime to pick it up.