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Late start tonight for Fandango’s One Word Challenge, where the word is belong. A little bit of writing, then a diamante poem.

I remember reading a book by Anne Tyler, “The Accidental Tourist”, a long time ago. Later I saw the movie, which was good, starring William Hurt and Geena Davis. I don’t remember a lot about the plot but I do remember there was what I’ll call a closed family system, where who they interacted with was comprised only of other family members. Somehow or another one of the siblings, the sister, met a man from the “outside” and there was great fear from the family that she would be taken away from them. What happens instead is the outsider gets drawn into the closed family system.

There appears to be a consensus that having as many friends and social connections as one is able to accrue is optimum, and if you have only a couple, or are in a closed family system, it is somehow inferior to the former. Not so. There are pros and cons to all quantities and qualities of relationships. When you feel like you belong is the most important feeling of all.

Not belonging anywhere, either in an open or a closed configuration is more problematic.

Alone

isolated, separated

struggling, searching, surviving

outside, encased, inside, interdependent

communicating, sharing, resonating

connected, caring

Belongs

FOWC — belong