Community Cup of Tea

Sometimes I think I stop reading blogger Dervala every now just so I can go back and find a terrific monthful of new treasures there. She's been home in Ireland for the holidays and is writing the most terrific stuff.

She's talking about her parents' great community and how just about everyone drops by for a cup of tea. I want to call it the "old normal" Read this.

My parents have deposited in a bank of friendship for twenty or thirty years and that investment cushions against knocks. When you are sick here, or your house burns down, things get done for you quietly. In all seasons, tools and recipes, bottles of wine and children, are passed around as needed, and if your arthritis has flared up my father, or someone else, will dig your garden. Everyone gives their time: conducting a choir, staffing the Credit Union, visiting friends’ sick parents, teaching new widows to drive. It is a gift economy where time and effort are valued more than Tiffany’s boxes.