Today I'm thinking about another connection between my current project and the bubble disturbances. Going to a food gathering for most people is an interruption in the daily more insular family eating that we do. When we take this detour from the normal routine of eating at home with our immediate family we open ourselves up to new experiences that can lead us and be a catylist for our desire for even more connection and experiences with others. It's been a few weeks since the Mexican Grill Fiesta. The guests included a few of our friends who are also new parents with small children. Since the dinner we all have included one another in our lives socially on a more regular basis: we've shared in some impromptu babysitting, had a potluck lunch, met up at a nearby playground, and got together for a picnic at an evening concert at the river (Rhythm on the Riverfront concert series). While before the dinner, we had “meant” to get together and do something, it was as if for all of us, getting together put it in our radar that we all wanted to continue this circle of community getting together. This interruption of our daily routines or of the ways in which we connect to one another allows us to really see if we are living the way we want to live, if we are being with others as much as we want to be. In today's world, most of us don't live with or close to our extended family and so staying close to others becomes so important. Of course you can raise your children on your own, but when you connect to like minded parents you form the village that sustains and supports. I noticed at our dinner, without verbally acknowledging we were doing this, we took turns being the parent or two who watched the kids, allowing the other parents to sit and talk. This seemingly small gesture was so powerful. Afterwards my friend Alice remarked that it was such a rare and welcomed treat for her to have her youngest child (a 5 month old baby) passed around amongst the adults whom she all trusted that she barely held him all afternoon. This kind of all taking care of all the kids is something very special that I hadn't predicted when I began the project. Fortunately it's something that is continuing long after that first event which brought us together.
My work in London of blowing bubbles to commuters as they hurry by was a way of changing the way in which they interact with me and with each other. I realize now that the dinners are not just a way for me to connect to others as a realization of my sense of self and identity, but are becoming a way for others to connect to one another as they navigate who they are to each other and how we go forward as we continue to create our community.
My work in London of blowing bubbles to commuters as they hurry by was a way of changing the way in which they interact with me and with each other. I realize now that the dinners are not just a way for me to connect to others as a realization of my sense of self and identity, but are becoming a way for others to connect to one another as they navigate who they are to each other and how we go forward as we continue to create our community.
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