NEW lead-in from Alex Tulloch:

Whenever someone asks about ReShawn or Sedric or Floyd or Cedric or Calvin, I always introduce them the same way: as my brothers. And every time I say that, the response I usually get is "Well, not your brother brother." That's always confused me, because while we're not biologically related, we're certainly connected in a way that I could primarily describe as brotherly. So Irwin's piece helped me add another word to describe the connection that we share; a sensation that I've grown to feel amongst our CFC, a family family (whatever that means).

(PIP LEAD:    Damar Hamlin asked “Did we win?” when he awoke.  Many – including myself – cried even hearing him utter anything but could he have said anything more powerful? ) 

Who is the WE?

I love that question and can’t help but reflect.

Here are three WE's.

I woke up this morning with a fever and a sore throat and the first thing I thought was not that I have Covid - I don’t- nor even how bad I felt. It was that I would not be able to be at our gathering today. I have literally been counting the days to physically see people I feel so much respect for and feel so connected to.

At some point today,  Pip was going to have me riff on a Yiddish word he heard for the first time a week or so ago.  

The word is “mish-puh-chah”…..(emphasis on that guttural “ch”!)

What was unsurprisingly synchronistic - given it was Pip- is that I have been wrestling for a good few months with how to define this group of people who come together under the Coburn sacred canopy. 

And mishpucha is the perfect description!!!

I feel blessed to be a part of this community. In thinking about the serious challenges and uncertainty we face a few things have come to mind that Pip invited me to share.