Inconvenience Is the Price We Pay for Community

This weekend I hosted birthday parties for each of my twins… back-to-back.

It was exhausting, but also, so magical. That’s parenting in a nutshell, right? Messy joy. Organized chaos. Love layered with logistical nightmares.

It was the first year we did their parties separately, and it felt good to give each of them their own day to shine. Brooke’s was a full-blown Wicked moment (my Broadway obsession lives on), while Charlie’s was all baseball, all the time. Think: peanuts, Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew, and a small army of seven-year-old boys wielding wiffle ball bats.

Some parents dropped their kids and dashed off to run errands, but a few stuck around, and by the end, they kept saying how glad they were they stayed. We swapped stories, passed cupcakes, and cheered on our kids like we were at Game 7.

I saw somewhere on social media that “inconvenience is the price you pay for community,” and I’ve been feeling that more than ever lately. It’s so easy to prioritize efficiency — the Target run, the quiet car ride, the to-do list — over showing up for the small, chaotic moments that actually make us feel part of something bigger.

Because community rarely fits neatly into our schedules. It’s loud, messy, and almost always inconvenient. But it’s also where we laugh the hardest, feel the most seen, and remember we’re not doing this alone.

Ask Clara: Why is community so important for women's health?