Re: Guest Rooms and strangers
From: Bsetzler (Bsetzleraol.com)
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:41:56 -0600
I appreciate Ron's words of wisdom.  Although I didn't need to visit any other
community before deciding on cohousing and Trillium Hollow, I know many of our
members went to the Seattle area to visit communities before they were willing
to invest.  Where would we be had those communities not offered that service
and that not been available?

Part of our philosophy, and one of the things that helped us get our project
completed and sold relatively quickly was that we felt like we were the
cohousing pioneers in Oregon and that our mission was important beyond just
building our homes and neighborhood.  We were building a demonstration and an
example of another way to live.  We can't be an example if no one knows about
us.

We've been living here for 9 months and we get a handful of people a week.
Most are friends and acquantences of members and not total strangers.  But
total strangers do show up (I had one from Alaska Sunday night).

Your attitude about this will determine how you feel.  I could have felt
resentful after a busy community day, trying to get ready for potluck in 15
minutes while trying to answer her questions and entertain her.  Instead, I
saw it as an opportunity to share something I love and meet someone I didn't
know.  It still was a slight intrussion but if we want to see 1000's and
1000's of communities across the world, we pioneers should be willing to
share.

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