turn-taking

I took another walk this weekend, despite the drizzle. I threw on a ball cap and grabbed my earbuds and tagged Andy for breakfast duty. I listened to a podcast, Everything Happens, and the interviewee talked about the importance of community, the way it provides something we can't always provide ourselves. In a community we can all take turns being disappointing and sharing grace.

Last week we discovered a bag of dress clothes on our front porch, outgrown by the boys one block over. We left a set of new greeting cards near their door a few days later. We cut up fruit for eighty for family literacy night, and let another father run talent show rehearsal without us.
Let it be clear, Mr. Rogers did not adequately prepare us for all the people in our neighborhood. But he did show us how to share grace. And more often than not everything works out, all of us pitching in when we can, taking turns meeting expectations and falling short, catching each other when we can.