I honestly don't know. I had people I thought I could count on, who were a part of our village. But it turned out I was wrong. There are few people I could honestly consider part of my village. Sadly, most of them are hundreds of kilometers away. There are a couple locally but that is about it. I find that too many people put conditions on helping - which (to me) contradicts the village idea. Or take advantage of me/us - taking but never reciprocating. Or judging me/us - which again isn't conducive to the village concept. But if I ever needed someone to pick up one of my kids, or needed someone to help me because DH was in an accident or whatever, I can honestly say I can count on one hand the number of people who would help. That doesn't mean I don't have fantastic friends who love me - it just means everyone is so busy running their own races that they don't take time to foster the village. And I guess that's ok. We make do with what we have. But I live in hope that one day, I will be a part of a village that we can help, can help us, and that makes us feel like our best is ok - not that we are never good enough.

And like Rogue, I don't rely on school as part of my village. It just takes the kids to have a falling out or for someone to move for everything to dissolve like sugar in hot water.