School starts tomorrow for my boys - as it does for many students across the country. We are sad summer is over, but also looking forward to the excitement of a new school year.

The past two weeks we have vacationed with family and friends, and once again I have been reminded how important a sense of community is.

A dear friend of our family’s - of my parents’ - passed away last week. He was 62 and I have known him almost my entire life. He and his wife, my mom’s dearest friend, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary just days before he passed away. I have cried for her and for their children with whom I grew up.

But their family will be okay. They will mourn and be sad and carry their father/husband with them each day of their own journey. But they have built a community that will sustain them through this difficult time. They have friends and family members who will go above and beyond to make this time more bearable. We all need that in our lives - and I am thankful they have it, and proud that our family is a part of it. They were always there for us.

I also, by happenstance, ran into an old friend from our days in Philadelphia. We were both vacationing on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This couple was the very first friends my husband and I met after we got married. A few years ago, Tracey - at age 38 - was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She battled and she suffered, but when we went to visit them - I was so comforted to see the community they had built for themselves and for their two daughters. They too would be okay.

We all need this - but it doesn’t just happen. You have to create it. You have to live your life contributing to a community, so when you need it, it is there.

The old saying is true: what you give, you receive back tenfold.

Happy Labor Day! I hope you take a day to relax and enjoy your family and friends. I hope you enjoy a bit of your own community.