Cohousing-L Mailing List: Community Grieving

[PattyMara Gourley (pmgourley]

Today, one of our elders passed away.  Tierra Nueva Cohousing has had other
elders cross over in our early days, but Ken has been with us for our entire
12 years of living here.  He was a staunch purveyor of World Peace, always
bearing witness in any discussion involving conflict, as an advocate for
peace.   The children of Tierra Nueva adored Ken, as he was fond of reading
them stories in our Common House library.  Today, a table in the Common
House has a photograph of Ken reading to young Aiden, who shared the same
birthday, surrounded by roses from our cutting garden.

I was baking bread this morning, just adding flour to the sponge and could
see outside my window a tender scene.  Ken's wife was being hugged and held
on the pathway, by another neighbor.  This touched me so deeply.  A simple
gesture that says so much about why community is important.  Why we do the
difficult work of relationship.  To be here for one another no matter what.
To be present for one another through thick and thin, through both joyful
times and times of grieving.

This is how a community's heart beats.
PattyMara


-- 
www.pattymara.1000markets.com
http://pattymara.craftisart.com


Our cohousing home is for sale:
http://tncoho.com/available/1742

"Luminous beings are we . . . not this crude matter." --Yoda