Cohousing-L Mailing List: 10 more reasons to love cohousing

[gordita (gordita]

Nearly two years ago, just after I moved in, someone on the list asked
people to write in saying what they had gained by moving in to cohousing.
Tonight as I was watering my garden, I thought that my list, 18 months after
move in, would look the same, but different somehow.

TEN REASONS TO LOVE COHOUSING:
1. You get to watch your neighbors who've been waiting the entire time
you've known them for their daughter from China, bring her home to acclaim
from the entire community, and then watch, in two weeks how she is folded
into the community as if she had always been there.
2. You get to sweat on the treadmill next to your  neighbor, and then hurry
home to summer salads that your other neighbors have made for common meal.
3. You get to water the seedlings of the neighbor who gave you heirloom
tomato plants while she's at the cohousing conference.
4. You get to watch your tiny daughter run and explore as if there were
nothing in the world to be afraid of, and no adult who wouldn't fold her in
their arms if she fell down.
5. You get to relax and read a book for an hour while your neighbor takes
all the boys on a long bike ride.
6. You get to walk to the garden shed with a neighbor just for the pleasure
of her company back and forth to your house.
7. You get to smile when the appraisor who is helping everyone in the
community with their refinancing is amazed that not only does your neighbor
have your key, but she'll write a check for your appraisal in your absence!
8. Your neighbor not only comes over to help you clean and cook the fresh
trout your son has brought home (don't they come as fillets under plastic?),
but he sits down to eat it with you and helps pull out the bones.
9. You get an instant phone call from your neighbors whose son has just been
born back East, and pictures on e-mail complete with vernix!
10. You get to tell your friends and family that "Yes, cohousing was the
right choice for me."

Terri Hupfer
Pleasant Hill Cohousing
Bay Area, CA

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