July Musings and Planning: Community

This month has been unique for sure - I've leaned into planning, while also doing what I could. Control what I can control kind of mentality. It was a hard month, but I think by trying to focus my time and energy in that regard, I've been able to come away with some great action plans for August and the upcoming Fall semester and season. That was in part inspired by finishing my first grad class at WVU! Chris finished his first WVU class as well after transferring from FSU!!

We hope to make it up to Morgantown this fall - we're online students - not only to connect with our grad schools but because Chris is considering their Ph.D. program as well, so this could be the move we make!

I've been working on a marketing plan for my dad and my husband as they have some awesome stuff going on, and I love this kind of work - I'm a dork, I know! Now I just have to make edits to their start, gather the content, finalize their content schedule, and get it all implemented!! I'm excited about it all - I know it may seem like work to others, but I love connecting people to other people or things that will help their lives, our community, society, and our world. It may seem a little naive maybe to some, but I do believe positive connections, no matter how small, creates positive energy in one way or another, and the more that happens, the more positive impact is created. And we need lots of positivity in the world right now.

I was able to help my dad with his latest exhibit, which comes to a close at the beginning of August, and was part of the inspiration for creating these plans. The exhibit is very communal and especially after starting the Apple TV series Home and the beautiful renovation that was done to turn my parents' family room into a "photo room", along with the wonderful community of people who have been there for me and my husband this past month, community has been top of mind for me in what I do and what I want to help create.

Visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Atlanta for a few days also helped with that inspiration. They have such a great little community in such a busy city with so much going on. It's so awesome visiting them in their little neighborhood and being able to walk to the local coffee shop and neighborhood pool. I feel while we have a great group of people we call our community at home, the sense of community in our town is very disjointed. We walk our pup around our neighborhood and we love to chat with the wonderful neighbors we've gotten to know, but there isn't really a place or event that bring people together. There are in certain sense - football games and religious holidays and drinking. While we aren't against these kinds of activities, they are not our regular daily, weekly, or even monthly activities. In fact, we don't drink anymore, and in a very drinking-heavy college town environment, it definitely gets old having events revolve around social binge drinking. We're more athletic and outdoorsy, and while there are some great areas around us, they're not necessarily accessible without driving at least 30 minutes.

So with my husband finishing his graduate program and looking at both a Ph.D. program as well as job opportunities, we've been looking at the kind of places where we would feel like we're more part of the community. I've definitely enjoyed looking at towns and homes even though a move is probably not likely until around the new year or even after. What's also been nice about that is it has helped me appreciate our current home as it is even more as it would be unlikely that we move back. I'm looking at each of the activities or things I do here as a little more special - trying to leave here appreciative of the experiences I guess is the mentality I'm going for I guess.

It's been great to muse on this especially as my husband's birthday rounds out the month - getting to celebrate him this year especially with all of this in mind was exciting and invigorating! We're looking forward to the next chapter in our lives while enjoying where we are at right now - sounds simple but not always easy!

Chris with a few of his birthday presents!

Here's to July and onto August!