I had managed to escape COVID. My husband and I were very careful for over four years.

We discretely chose where we went and under what conditions we left the house, supported restaurants by ordering takeout and found Zoom to not only be a way to maintain eye contact with family and friends, but also a method to continue taking adult education classes with the added bonus of lively discussions often continuing after the classes ended.

We masked wherever we went. That was, until recently. It felt so nice to see other’s smile without a mask, to hear clearly those who spoke softly and to breathe freely. We slowly “forgot” to mask, and a few weeks ago were in a closed room where someone with a croupy-sounding cough sat unmasked.

I took ours out, but it was too late. Five days later I tested positive. Now I can commiserate with all those who’ve had to endure this disease in the past.

The worst part for me was that my husband was in rehab following a complicated surgery and I couldn’t see him, nor could he come home until we both recuperated. The best part was that friends and neighbors took over my role at his bedside, took him to appointments and were on hand for whatever we both needed.

I believe this is why so many of us remain rooted in our communities. In the best sense, the communities we live in become a large, caring family ready to celebrate, help or mourn together. We found this when we landed in Wilton, just as fortunate others have found it in other neighborhoods in other towns.

What I happily, yet unexpectedly, found in our Wilton community brought back memories of another place, at another time, in what felt like another world, a world that I found made sense, a world that reassured you that you belonged and were valued.

What I’m referring to took place many decades ago in an ancient village named Bougoumene in Chad, Africa. There “community” meant life and survival. Everyone had a necessary and respected role to fulfill. Even those barely able to walk could gather sticks for fires, later carry younger children or guard grain fields from marauding baboons.

The elderly were revered for their wisdom. Everyone in the village was aware of each person’s unique personalities, skills, faults and manners of speaking, working and socializing.

For instance, if the voice of Ama, the wife of Ali the tailor, rose above a whisper, you knew she was in trouble and people rushed to her aid. Whereas, Khadidja, who was known for her raucous manner and sharp tongue, would be ignored until her voice reached a point of shaking the leaves off trees or became so soft it could barely be heard. That’s when she needed help.

Even those who would be considered “outsiders” in our culture had roles to fulfill and were woven into the patterns of community life.

This experience taught me you don’t need to live isolated lives in small family groups behind the walls of your home. Becoming a part of a community could extend “family” beyond those walls. This is what I wanted in my future, but how would I find it?

We were fortunate to find a home in Wilton without knowing, until we moved in, just how fortunate we were. Until recently, there has been no vehicle to explain the things that give our Monadnock region towns and neighborhoods their character. Too often, our towns are only known for their controversies, traditional events, local celebrities, historic or natural features or “newsworthy” disasters -- events that happen only occasionally, but make up the majority of local news reports.

But not much is known about what holds the hearts of their residents.

This is why this newspaper’s call for community reporters made perfect sense to me. What better way to introduce our communities to others, to illustrate the reasons we are committed to and continue to call these towns “home”? I want others to understand Wilton in a way that is too often only known to those of us who live here.

My hope is that others, who love their own Monadnock region communities, will decide to write about them to introduce them to us, so we too can dive beneath the surface and get to understand those unique vignettes that make living in each so rewarding.