Building/Finding Community

Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 9:03AM

I finally made the time to sit and write out how I am feeling about everything coming together.

Since moving here, roughly 2 years ago, we have built such a warm, welcoming community. It all started with messaging a woman about an activism t-shirt in a Facebook Group at the end of last year. I felt compelled to tell her our story and she felt compelled to invite us to a monthly dinner group. Upon walking onto the restaurant’s patio we were excitedly greeted by faces we had never seen before. My husband and I were a little shocked to see so many smiling strangers welcoming us to their table. That is now our table too, and it’s amazing!

Building community is so important. It’s not just for us grown folx. Young people need community as well. They need to feel like someone always has their back, and sometimes they need those people to be outside of their family unit. Our oldest is thriving here in McDonough. He has a few different friends here, who he holds dear. He has his Florida friends, and he has his art community. Of course, he still has us - his parents, and his brother. He still enjoys going out to get coffee and chatting in the car, and family dinners are still a thing. Needing his own community does not mean that we are no longer a part of his life or in his inner circle, it just means he has more support as he travels through life. We ALL need that kind of support. We all need commUNITY.

Since meeting our people at our monthly dinner, we have added to our community through meeting various people in Henry County and forming a Book Club. This Book Club is so laid back, inclusive, warm, and free. I am free to be me, you are free to be you, and together we build something beautiful. I will share the name of the Facebook Group I just mentioned, once I ask the founders how they feel about it.

This community we have joined, has been so welcoming and SUPPORTIVE! At one of our first Book Club meetings, a friend asked us “if you knew your could not fail, what would you do?” I knew instantly - I would start a non profit that would combine helping LGBTQ youth and art. With the support of our community, this is happening, it’s really happening! I have friends who said they will be there to offer support “one hundo” percent, a friend lending his Art Gallery to us for meeting space, two other offers of space to use, should we need it. ENCOURAGEMENT!!! That is something I really needed. My husband has told me that I can do this, my kids are super supportive. Sometimes you just need a little push and a little bit of support, and then you can fly.

Anyway, if you made it this far, kudos to you! Thank you so much for being here and being invested in helping young people build their community.

Ciao for now.