Cohousing-L Mailing List: The miracle of cohousing: National Cohousing Day

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

I was reminded the other day that there is a miracle in our midst here!

I was talking with a local business person in the small town near where I
live and the conversation  turned to cohousing. This person could not
believe that people, who for the most part are strangers to each other,
could cooperatively band together to build a multi-million dollar real
estate development, and do so with some "dream" in mind. His response  was:
Husbands and wives can't hardly design a house without most of them ending
up in divorce court. NO WAY could a bunch strangers pull this off. Least not
more than once or twice in a hundred years.

Well I gave him the cohousing book and got him to a community dinner. He was
stunned. He kept saying, My god, this is the best kept secret in America.

This miracle of cooperation goes largely unseen by the rest of the country.
And while we may complain about the meetings, the less than absolutely
perfect development issues, there is a whole amazing thing that we take for
granted.  And, there are dozens more of places all around the country
following our footsteps. I think  maybe we could celebrate this miracle in
some  kind of larger scale. Maybe a national Cohousing Day? Just a day where
every cohousing group raises their glasses to toast, what is frankly, an
astonishing achievement that deserves a lot more recognition and celebration
than it gets. A collective day of admiration for ourselves.

Ok, I'll pick a random month out of the hat, How about a day in September as
National Cohousing Day? Throw out some press releases showing off our
accomplishments, do an open house at  as  many groups as we can get to
participate, and just PARTY! We deserve the party at least.

Rob Sandelin
Community Works!