Be Brave Friday

This one is short

This week in my community I saw a lot of really cool things happen—things that require thought and fundraising and time and work.

Two affordable homes broke ground in a nearby town on the island. In my own town, a path that was devastated by a storm was officially open again. There was a local election. Dogs romped around. School years ended. Principals and teachers cheered students on and goodbye. A state track meet in rain brought volunteers to raise money for local agencies and several state crowns to local high school athletes.

This week, a group of kids biking down our street, heading toward the ball fields yelled, “I love everything!”

My dog barked.

“I love you barking dog!” he yelled.

My dog barked more.

It was adorable.

This week, I also saw someone call my community cheesy. That’s because there are quite a few t-shirt shops aimed for tourists in the area that the tourists go.

But that’s the thing, right?

A town isn’t defined by just one area. A community isn’t defined by just some of the people in it. It also isn’t defined by those of who write the news or by those who consistently make the news.

It’s bigger than that.

It’s more than that.

That’s really hard to remember sometimes.

But, it’s moments of joyful yelling, of quiet hugs, of people planting flowers, of people working together to make positive change, or even just having a good time on a lawn listening to music.

Let me show you what I saw in just one day (yesterday) in two towns, okay?

These beautiful women hugged because they were making something amazing: affordable housing. They are also developing the economy for their community.

This grandpa was comforting his granddaughter in a big crowd while this little girl’s grandma broke ground on two new affordable homes being built to bring people into the community.

These two women were reelected to lead the local council

These humans were cutting a ribbon (joyously) because they’d managed to rebuild (with a lot of help from others) something that a storm had destroyed.

This guy was singing.

My dog got to meet this chilling cool guy. And a lovely lady offered to hold my puppy’s leash so I could take photos.

There were sculptures on people’s lawns.

And families celebrating together.

Flowers everywhere, planted or in pots, on purpose because someone wanted to bring color and beauty into the world.

And I got to hang out with these two handsome boys.

I saw joy.

I saw kindness.

Sometimes it was just in momentary flashes, but it was there.

It shouldn’t be brave to open ourselves up to see that, but sometimes it’s so easy to only see the negative things, to lean into that bias.

It’s really hard to remember that when things seem overwhelming, when you feel powerless, when it seems like everything is strife and pain and violence and flat-out horrifying, that there are other forces out there, too. There is bird song and there are puppy grins. There are people who are working to rebuild and create and bring beauty into the world, too.

There is.

There are.

There will continue to be.

I know! I know! It’s so hard to see it sometimes, but it’s still there. We have to protect it though, right? And the first to doing that is to remember that it exists right now, right here, today. In us and outside of us. In big ways and tiny ways. It’s everywhere.

All photos by Shaun and me.

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