Chapter Five: "No, I am your father" *Shocked look* "No, No, That's Not True! That's Impossible!"

So today I'm going to talk about... well, I don't know what I'm going to talk about. Let's just see how this goes. I suppose I could explain what "circles of caring" means. The basic idea, believe it or not, comes from a book we had to read in English last year, called A Separate Peace. One of the main characters, Finny, is described as having great circles of loyalty, "starting with me and him and extending out to the furthest reaches of great Northern wilderness" or some such thing. I don't have the book in front of me, and I'm sure I'm misquoting that, but the general idea is the same: That Finny has these circles of loyalty that encompass everyone and everything he comes into contact with, but that some of the people and places and things are closer to him than to others.

My circles of caring are basically the same, except it isn't about loyalty so much as it is about caring and affection. I've been thinking about it, and I do sort of have distinct circles of people I care about. Some of these overlap, and some of them are non-concentric. One circle is not necessarily better or worse than another circle, and they are very rarely based on how long I've known a person. With that in mind, I will share some of my circles of caring. I will elaborate on these at some later time. I have no time right now, because I'm in Kalamazoo. In no particular order:

Family, Immediate

Family, Extended

Best Friends

Close Friends

The Girls

Youth Group Core

Youth Group extended

The "Puppies"

Church

KAMSC People

Norrix People

The Hive Mind and Friends (alternatively the Meat Club)