Cohousing-L Mailing List: Diversity Reigns!

[Joaniblank (Joaniblank]

Wow, what a lively exchange between Rob and Stuart. I'm so glad both of you
are on this list. We all (well, most of us) claim we want diversity within
our cohousing groups. I, for one, am pleased to see it among our communities
as well. I intend to live in cohousing for the rest of my life, and when I am
ready to leave the one I am in now, I hope to have a lot of places to choose
from. If people keep being this open with their ideas ond opinions, I will
have a pretty complete picture of what other coho communities are like well
before I pursue my next residence.

It interests me to think about want from the cohousing community I anticipate
living in ten years from now. Let's see; for example, I think I would like
then to be (still) in an urban place, but in a larger community (Doyle St.
has only 12 units). I would like to be eating more simply, be in a smaller
unit, use the common house more, have a vegetable garden--that others tend..
On the other hand, I want to live in a clean and relatively new building,
have plenty of people around whose micro and macro "politics" I share and
regularly put into action. And I want to live, without guilt, just a little
bit more "comfortably" than I did--by choice, mind you--when I was in my
20's, 30's and 40's. 

I expect that each person who was to do a self inventory like this would come
up with a unique picture of the close-to-perfect cohousing community for him
or herself. And we all could change over time too. Then will we play games of
musical houses? Even though I described my ideal as sort of like Doyle Street
only more so, I suppose if someone who livedat N Street or Sharingwood  were
to fall in love with me and I with him or her, I could probably go to live
happily in either of those places or any other as long as it is cohousing.
 (It's too damn cold in MoCoHo or New View or Nyland land, so please don't
fall in love with me if you live or want to live there:). )

Joani