Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: what is a neighbor?

[Sharon Villines (sharonvillines]

> Which brings me back to the beginning - what is a neighbor in the context
> of cohousing?

I suspect the meaning of neighbor varies with each relationship within the
community, but I have a question related to this. Many years ago I was part
of a Unitarian project to form extended families of choice within the larger
congregation. I was part of a group that met together regularly for family
dinners, picnics, discussions, sharing, etc.

One feature that did not work was that one single woman would bring with her
whatever man she was dating at the time--often someone would only appear
once or twice. It was actually easier when  a couple divorced because one
part of the couple usually withdrew from the "family" many months before the
rest of us realized that a split was in the offing. The introducing of
serial strangers that you never saw again was much more destructive of group
process and sharing.

I'm wondering how serial relationships affect the group?

--
Sharon Villines
MacGuffin Guide to Detective Fiction
http://www.macguffin.net
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington, DC
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~takomavillag/