What My Community Means to Me

An essay? Perhaps. When our three girls were in sixth grade they were each selected to read their winning essay at the Memorial Day celebration, titled What Memorial Day Means to Me. It struck me this week, with the visits of those three treasures that Chester is still welcoming and beautiful.

Supporting the Whiting Library with the Sharon doll and producing a community winner was special for me. Kelly bought a couple tickets and Kate and Mike bought some books at the library book sale. To walk around Chester where they were immediately recognized and greeted was very cool. To get hugs from Lonnie Lisai was tops. Kelly was given a food tour and Mike was invited to cut the pork for our tacos. We even hopped into St. Luke’s where they were raised over the years and strolled back to the town athletic field, almost unrecognizable to them with new dugouts and fences. where they played softball under their loving coach and father. For Kate to share with Mike the Williams River and Mt. Flamstead memories was touching.

That these loving sisters and musicians were here to support Jennings & McComber (Kara and Andy)’s CD launch and to perform as well was uplifting. We let them go back to Arizona after a fun family night up north with the grandkids, and turned our efforts into fall garden cleanup, cutting back and pruning on almost spring-like days.

To top it off for proud mom and dad, we celebrated community at the annual spaghetti dinner to support Keewaydin Camp experiences to sixth graders from Chester-Andover Elementary School, where our three school girls learned what it was to grow up in a loving, caring community, which they carry to their own lives today. Being greeted and hugged by a couple dozen adults and children we adore was a perfect end to a perfect week.