The survey that many of you participated is was so much fun. It gave me perspective as to why you are here: what you are seeking and what you get out of your visits to this place, day after day.

So why do you come?

For softness. For inspiration. For a break from the day-to-day of messy reality. For a silver lining. For a positive perspective. For a new perspective.

Its interesting… that's much of why I come here too. Writing these posts provides me with the same gift, but through my own life. Pretty sweet.

And there is one more reason you come here. A profound need that you expressed time and again in the comments of the survey. You come her to belong.

You are hungry for community.

Connecting with like-minded souls ("fitting in") is a basic human need. Those of us who have chosen a non-mainstream path might not find this connection in our communities or extended families. And so we cast a broader net and in our own town or we log onto the internet to find a place where we belong. We find a place to feel normal.

And me? I am seeking the same. While my town provides some of that community, you also help me connect with more and more people with similar values. Similar priorities.

I am happy to be here to give you a place to feel normal, or a place to try on new ideas to see if they fit. A place to fine tune what your normal looks like. All of my ideas won't fit, but some may light a spark that will take you in a new direction.

This is a family-centered, organic-lifestyle, local-food-eating, low-impact, peaceful-parenting, homebirthing, co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, homeschooling, non-circumcising, non-vaccinating, do-it-yourself, make-it-yourself kind of normal. If even some of these ideas resonate with your heart you have found community here.

Many of you are strangers, yet you expressed a feeling that we are friends. You want to have tea and let our kids
run wild together. I feel the same way. And really, that's the power of community, wherever you find it. Feeling connected and supported, even among strangers.

Thanks for letting me share this peek into my life day after day and holding a space in your day for the thoughts I share.