About nine months after my husband died I went up to Smith College to teach in the school of social work.  I lived in a faculty dorm and ate and had dialogues and drank wine with some very nice and interesting people.  It felt like the switch from black and white to color in The Wizard of Oz.  The following fall I was going to a professional meeting with Marcie Solomon and Janis Colton.  I told them about that experience and said that it made me wonder if I should move to somewhere like Riderwood to have that feeling of community that helped so much with my loss and loneliness.  They told me I was too young for that and that I could stay right where I was on Willard Avenue but join them at Temple Sinai for that same sense of community and connection.  So I started going to events at the temple.  It felt like a place where I might feel at home.  I finally joined.  I signed up for some committee work.  I met welcoming people with whom I felt comfortable.  They shared my values, interests, and sense of humor.  I am so glad they invited me.  I have found my community and a home for my soul.

-Carolyn Gruber