Community Envy (Or, I'll Get Back to The Heavy Stuff Later)

So last night I had an awesome time hanging out at a pub with some local Mommy bloggers. Two of them,American Family and Ser-- are already good pals of mine. I also got to meet Patti, Karen, Amy, and even Dawn, if only briefly. Oh, and the lovely Mara, although she needs to get back up on the blogging horse. Giddyap there, little lady!

They all live in the little town up the road-- an area with its own little viable downtown, post office, and schools all within walking distance. It's the kind of place where you run into neighbors on the way to school and at the playground or the park.

Now, the community where I live is certainly full of its own little jems. There's the local co-op grocery, and the vegetarian restaurant, and the yummy vegan bakery. There's also an amazing bike path that runs for miles along the Olentangy River, and a European-style coffee house, and even a tiny little playground or two. The problem is that it's split in the middle by a rather large road. Those to the north may be drinking less fair trade coffee than usual out of their Denby coffee mugs, but are doing relatively little belt tightening in these uncertain times. Those of us south of this major road are boiling chicory over firepits in our alleyways just to have something to drink from the communal tin cup.

I'm kidding. *wink, wink*

Unfortunately, however, it cannot be denied that the more affordable, rent-saturated nature of the homes on our street makes for a more transient community. It's a quirky community, where graduate students and retirees share street parking space with drum-circling lesbians, and I really like that about it. It's not, however, the sort of place with 2.5 kids hanging out on every lawn.

Simply put, there just isn't a real "mommy community" around here. If you're looking for people to teach you reiki or help with your organic garden, you're all set. If you're looking for regulars to chat with at the swingsets, however, you're kind of screwed.

Still-- that little town to the north is a short drive away. And here, of course-- online, where we all lead a little too much of our lives anyway-- here we're all just a blog comment away. Or an e-mail, or a message on Facebook, or a twitter status, or whatever that is (I've been told I simply must check it out). Even though I won't be seeing these ladies around the swingsets, I'll settle for coffee dates or nights out for beer or dinner. And if you're still looking for blogs to read, do check them out, won't you? They're quite a bunch of vibrant, talented writers, and some of them (hint, hint, AmFam) have families even crazier than mine! The fun never stops.