Finding Our Communities

Here’s my crazy husband: one of the 100 or so Boilermakers in a sea of 90,000 Huskers. Brave man!

Last weekend, my family and I did one of those crazy road trips. We left Indiana at 10:30 in the morning and drove all day to Lincoln, Nebraska. There we spent time with family all with the excuse of a football game pulling us to town. Then Sunday morning the kids and I drove back while Eric stayed for work.

Crazy.

You can call us that.

Surely at some point in time you’ve done something as crazy?

My pretty girl humoring me as we walked all over campus.

You might say it was insane, but it was worth every moment. Why? Because we got to connect with family. I’m blessed with kids who adore their cousins. Family that will make time when we come to town — I didn’t get photos at the gathering at Grandma’s farm after the game. But we like each other. Enough to do crazy things like congregate for a football game.

Why did we do it? So our kids could spend time with cousins. Family is so important!

It got me thinking about the community God places us in. And the community I have to place my characters in when I’m writing a book. Community is a lot of my identity. I had some split loyalties going Saturday — I’ve got degrees from Nebraska and Purdue, but when Purdue led into the second half, my true loyalties erupted. I’m a Husker through and through.

But I’m many other things as well. I’m an author, a mother, a wife, a university lecturer, an attorney, a Christian, a friend, a sister, a daughter, and so many more. All of these titles represent a different community I am part of, a different part of who I am. Remove any one of these and you remove part of my identity. Part of what makes me…me.

You’re the same.

You belong to a host of communities. Which  communities make you who you are?

What are the communities that leaving you longing for more connection? All of them are part of your identity.

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Cara Putman

An award-winning author of more than 35 books, Cara is a Clinical Assistant Professor in business law and ehtics to graduate and undergraduate students at Purdue University. Putman also practices a bit of law, focusing on happy law aka adoptions. She lives with her husband, four children, a perfect cat, and a sweet yet rambunctious shelter puppy in Indiana.

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