These essays chronicle my attempt to join, discover, and create community both as a child and as an adult. In my youth, I sought belonging in a number of places, from the Catholic Church to Hollywood game shows, from a parochial school classroom to a firetrap punk rock club. And each time, I felt close to belonging to something bigger than myself, only to see it broken up for a multitude of reasons, sometimes of my own doing. As an adult, I threw myself feverishly into my romantic relationships, believing that I might find in a community of two the stability that larger groups lacked. And when those relationships fell apart, I found myself more alone that I had ever imagined I might.