It’s finally here! The (in)courage un-conference, (in)RL, starts today with four separate broadcasts of web content and then get-togethers held in hundreds of living rooms, churches, and coffee shops all over the world tomorrow. Will you be a part of it? It’s not too late!

Here’s a little history and background on that strange looking name, (in)RL: bloggers developed the abbreviation IRL for “in real life” as in my blog buddy Heather and I finally met IRL!  We used to take a bit of ribbing about the imaginary friends in our computers before blog conferences and local meetups became more prevalent. Now I’ve met lots of my blog buddies IRL.

However, all of us need day-to-day real life community right where we live. We’re wired that way.

So, who’s my community?

My church. These are the cannot-live-without people in my life. I’ve always told my kids that of all the friendships they’ll make, there’s nothing like those precious ones of like precious faith. These are the ones who know me best of all, my move-a-body girlfriends.

My homeschool friends. We didn’t know most of the families in our Classical Conversations community when it started, but now they’re some of our dearest friends. Although naturally the moms are friends with the moms and kids with the kids, by the very nature of the program and the tutor-student relationship, I now have lots of teen friends, too.

I get to talk art and philosophy with these kids one day a week and dissect things like cows’ eyes (that’s the inside of one there on the right). We’ve had a wonderful school year and I’ll be sad to graduate these kids from my class next week.

Neighbors. I’m the world’s worst neighbor. Seriously. I’ve always got so much going on in the house or away from home that I’m not an out-and-about in the neighborhood kind of girl. And then there’s what my husband and I call my “5 degree comfort zone.” Let’s just say I’m thankful to live in the days of heating and air conditioning.

I’m hoping to connect more with my neighbors at my (in)RL gathering tomorrow.

What about you? Who’s your community?

(And what did your camera phone capture this week? Link it below!)