Getting into the "Community" of things.

"What are you watching?" I asked my parents sometime back in 2010 or so.

"It's a show about community college, it's really funny!" they replied.

"O...K..." I responded and walked off.

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you'll know that college and I have not been on friendly terms. Well, to be more accurate, the stress of college life and my health are at war with each other. Between my hearing loss, Aspergers and chronic health issues, I thrive best in settings where I have control of what happens when. I did great as a homeschooler, but going to class and lipreading for hours a day did not work so well with my health. Because I got good grades, everyone said I was college material, but my best skills are the ones that have been self-taught or gained in an apprenticeship setting (i.e. writing and sewing, both of which I now get paid for).

I tried three times, once private college, once at community college, and once at a state college. I had awesome teachers each time, my body just wouldn't let me do it. Community college happened and failed because of a car accident, not a pleasant memory. Furthermore, /all/ of my friends and siblings were completing college courses at the local community college, constant reminder of their 'success' and my 'failure.' So I had bad connotations of the words' community college' my parent's synopsis didn't really spark my interest.

Also, for some reason I thought it was structured like "The Office" which I'd tried to watch and failed to get interested in. Actually I didn't do sitcoms, period. (I know. Sad. Now I adore "Big Bang Theory" "Modern Family" and mourn the passing of "Raising Hope.")

My siblings and a lot of my friends loved the show, but I just couldn't watch something set in a college setting. It brought back too many memories of my own 'failures'. I heard it was great. I heard it was geeky. I heard it got cancelled and the fans brought it back. I was happy for the fans. I didn't want to watch it.

Then, this spring, my husband and I needed something new to watch. Happily married, out of my parents house, and juggling two awesome jobs doing what I love, I no longer felt insecure about watching a community college show.

All that is a LONG story of why I am so late getting on the "Community" train. And part of me is sad that I didn't meet Troy, Abed, Jeff, Annie, Shirley, Britta and Pierce sooner. But the other part is really glad that Nathan and I can discover the show together. Shared laughter is a beautiful thing in any relationship, but especially when you're growing your marriage.

We are currently in Season 3, so no spoilers! And since it is now a limited commodity, we're making sure to savor each new episode.

But don't worry. We have our fingers crossed that Netflix will pick the show up for a sixth season and a movie.