Cohousing-L Mailing List: Introduction

[Grant Syphers (gsyphers]

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Introduction
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My name is Grant Syphers.  I've been reading the postings on this
list for a time and I've decided that I should introduce myself.
 
Leigh and I have been married for thirty years.  Our two older
children are adults living on the East Coast.  Our youngest, David,
is still at home and, at thirteen years old, is attending junior
high.  I'm 54 and have practiced psychiatry here in Pleasanton,
California for twenty years.
 
Leigh and I learned about cohousing when we attended a slide
presentation given by Katie McCamant earlier this year.  As I heard
her speak, I contrasted her description of a cohousing community with
the lack of closeness in my own, suburban neighborhood.  We seldom do
things together in this neighborhood and many folks here know little
or nothing about the others.  Most of my own efforts to find
community have involved professional colleagues who usually live at
some distance and whom I see too seldom to suit me!
 
I am very interested in learning more about cohousing and eventually
either starting a local cohousing group or moving to a location where
a group already exists.
 
Another point of interest in cohousing has been the parallels I've
seen in the decision-making process many cohousing communities seem
to use and the decision-making process which Quakers use.  Leigh and
I are Quakers in an area where the nearest Quaker Meeting is an hour
away.  I think it would be a real pleasure to live in a community
with others who know something of consensus decision-making and are
willing to try to make it work.
 
Many thanks to all of you from whom I'm learning about cohousing.
Best wishes.
 
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Grant Syphers                    Meadowhearth, Pleasanton, California
gsyphers [at] igc.apc.org
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