Concentric Circles of Community (or, Why living the urban lifestyle is so weird)

I think I figured out why I feel so much more fragmented in community down here as opposed to up in the mountains. Up north, I could have lunch with Jamie and Debbie in Fresno, who incidentally, are in a prayer group with the Cosbys up at Calvin Crest, and, by golly, one of them used to work at Summit, some of whom attend Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church. In other words, everyone, although perhaps not directly in each others small circles, have interlocking circles of community so that everyone is somehow connected. Down here, when I go to the local coffee shop, the lady who owns it has no idea if I am a Vons shopper or a Raileys shopper. My checkout person at Vons has no idea that I am going to watch Lost with a Fuller intentional community in Pasadena, and that community has no idea who the small group of woman are whom I meet with to pray on Monday mornings. I feel that I am an isolated individual moving from community to community with no connecting circles. Although this is a very strange experience, it helps me to understand how people can feel so anonymous in the urban context. No wonder we in the West are so individualistic! Of course, maybe I have been drinking too much coffee and this is just one of my caffeine hallucinations. Entirely possible.