It Takes A Village

I'm obsessed with #Community.

I love community everything. Community centres, community theatre, community organizations, community parks, groups, spaces, people, food, libraries, community everything! It's SO ingrained in me how important #Community is.

Here's why:

I, Daisy Arseneault, was raised by a #Community.

I had a loving Mother and Father that needed a community to help in the raising of their family and therefore, I had the blessing of being influenced by such a wide range of wonderful people and places in my life.

Here's what my community consisted of:

My immediate Family: Mother, Father and three brothers

My Extended Family

My Neighbours

My Church

My Schools
My Libraries

My Parent's friends

Looking back, I can think of so many places and people in each category that have made an impact on my life today. I can think of how one area provided strength to me as an individual, that my parents just were unable, through no fault of their own, give to or teach me. The best thing that my parents did for me was to open the door to my community. The rest happened naturally.

Why am I so obsessed with this topic? I believe because this topic speaks to the core of who I am and where I've come from. You see, my Mum was raised in the ultimate #Community. She was raised in a tiny Village on the Island of Samoa where community is a natural way of life.

I asked my Mum what it's like to be raised in a village versus how I was raised in London, Ontario:

Mum: “My village has palm trees!”

(*I could've stopped here because clearly my Mum continued her

“village mentality” while raising us in Canada but I wanted to keep digging.*)

Me: But who raised you?

Mum: “My Mum and Dad.”

Me: O.K. Who helped to raise you?

Mum: “My older brothers and sisters.”

Me: Was there anyone else?

Mum: “Other family.”

Me: Who else lived in the village with you? Who were your neighbours?

Mum: “Lots of family like cousins and any other people in the village there, they are like family.”

(Insert Memory: Whenever my Mum introduced me to one of her childhood friends from her village, I recall having a very difficult time deciphering her friends from family that I was related too.)

Me: So, your friends were like your family?

Mum: “Of course!”

(like duh, daisy!)

Me: So, what did everyone do to help you and your family?

Mum: “They helped with the weeding, the cooking, the gardening, planting, or anything that needed to be done!”

Interesting:

The movement between family and friends is fluid in #Community.

Who doesn't need community?

I needed my community and I didn't even realize it until my community just showed up at my door.

My last blog post included an account of the personal physical struggles that I'm currently going through as my back heals from many injuries. I wrote that post purely as a reflection of how my month of February evolved and what I learned along the way. What I didn't expect and was shocked by was the immediate response of encouragement from friends and family who read my post. I thought it was kind enough to have little tweets of encouragement or Facebook posts that sincerely brightened my day. But it didn't stop there. The weekend after my post went up, a neighbour came to my door with food in his hands. Another neighbour called to help too. The next day, someone from church just showed up with more food and the offers of help with cleaning dishes and sending food have uplifted my family ever since. These acts of service didn't just relieve me of my duties in order to give my back the rest that it needed but it uplifted my children – who were compensating for what I could not do. It also lightened the burden on my husband's shoulders that he had been carrying – in addition to his current, intense workload with his job.

Beyond the immediate care that all this help has been giving me, can you imagine how this care is influencing my children first hand? They will never forget being in need and having that need fulfilled. They will always know what it feels like to be part of a loving village.

It has been a gift for me to see the wonderful village that I'm surrounded by. I have never been alone during these last three months of healing. Thank you to my friends and family for coming to #MyFale and breathing new life into my weary soul and making this bitter cold winter feel a whole lot warmer. You also played a vital role in raising my children in a way that I could not.

Thank You!

My children being raised by my husband & I and my extraordinarily talented Village