(disclaimer: wordpress keeps freezing on me and then I lose entire posts because it also does not save drafts for me. This is a late night re-creation of a post I wrote earlier today…and I think the original was a lot better.)
This word is my preferred way of living, by far, and not just because I came of age in the 1960’s when that was all the rage. I did live in actual communes in my late teens and early twenties, and I thrived in that setting!
But really, I was kind of raised that way in the first place.
My Mom was a single working mother and was so well-loved by all of my friends, they all called her “Mom”. At several points in my young life, there were many other kids (besides our three) who either lived with us or crashed on the living room floor in sleeping bags….this latter category often as a short respite from their own broken and painful homes. During my highschool years (before I prematurely left home myself) a few times, my Mom would even find one of her extra “kids’ passed out on our front lawn. She would nurse them back to sobriety and eventually send them to their real homes to try to work things out.
And my mother also had other single-mom friends who would be around (or not), kids in tow (or not). My tiny childhood home, when my Dad was out of the picture, was delightfully unpredictable and often filled with additional people, bringing a variety of interactions, activities, and support. There was always someone to talk to.
When I became a young single mother myself, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to open up my home to other young women in similar boats….the more, the merrier after all. That expanded to renting rooms to students from a very close-by college. And before I knew it, many years of this lifestyle flew by, and I had lived with so many people and kids and animals, I almost lost count. I wrote a post all about it for my friend Badfish. You can read about it here:
My House as a Life-preface (for Badfish and his Buddy Duncan)
One of my favorite experiences of communal living was on a Once-in-a-Lifetime (which turned out to be twice) extended trip to the South Pacific. Me and my six closest people, as well as a crew of four, lived together on a 95 foot yacht called the Tau, for well over a month. We sailed down around and explored the Southern Lau Islands (Fiji).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lau_Islands
We lived on the TAU (in Fijian, it means friend) and though it was a beautiful and spacious ocean going craft, it could be crowded, so we had to develop some communal living rules to live by (like honoring the silence above deck during sunrise and sunset… Oh, and flushing only 3 squares of T.P. at a time or incurring the wrath of our Captain!)
Now, in these later years of my life, I think my version of Communal Living would be more like some of the wonderful Co-Housing communities born in the greater Seattle area this last 20 years or so. But I currently have a houseful of people I dearly love (my partner, my son and two grandsons, and a long-time family friend…oh and three cats) And we will live together communally in this rustic old house, for as long as the current economy will allow.
I have some very close people in my life-my adopted sister, my son, and my best friend-(all introverts) who cringe at my chosen lifestyle, but they can’t be surprised. Co-Housing and Communal Living is in my my history, my blood, maybe even my genes.
Though I am not a Mormon, my great, great grandfather was Brigham young. If you have come across his history, you know that at least 16 of those 55 wives, lived in row houses close to the Salt Lake City Temple.
And you just know they lived communally.
Your house looks a lot like ours 🙂
Uh…I’m so sorry?
No, I really do love my house and I love the pictures I have seen of yours too.
Wish these two houses were not on opposite sides of the country.
Happy Holidays Marilyn.
What a wonderfully rich life story you have! All those people you have known and surrounded yourself with over the years are like books- they enrich and they teach and they make wherever you call home a little bit warmer. And wow! Brigham Young huh?
Great post!
Thank you so much. What a great comment!
Merry Christmas!
wow that is some family history!! You left out that bug creatures that inhabit your home too 🙂 What a giving person you are. Inspiring.
There should be a little icon to click on when someone’s comment makes you blush…
Merry Christmas Lisa.
You compose your posts on WP? I would recommend composing in Word and then copy/paste it when you’re finished. Also, why isn’t WP saving your drafts? Are you not pushing the save button, or is WP acting up? Do you have an RV hookup next to your house…? Happy Xmas & Merry New Year
Answers in the order you wrote your comments…
I used to compose of WP but too many got deleted so now do it on Word and transfer to WP. But STILL sometimes, it freezes and whatever photos I have had to search for to include, plus all the categories and tags I choose all just disappear after the freeze up on the Media selection box. I don’t know why it doesn’t save drafts and the”save” and “saving” buttons on the page are never options…always grayed out, muted (or what ever you call that). I have had a couple of “help” exchanges with WP but it has not solved the problem. (I was given solutions like…change my But it is definitely why I hardly ever post longer pieces anymore. Pretty discouraging.
Also, I DO have an RV hookup next to my house however my stupid, sometimes pretentious city will no longer let me use it as one, so the water, sewer and electricity hook-ups are in bad shape. WHY??
pushed send too soon, The options WP gave me were things like Change your search engine, get a new computer, etc.
You need to get a different theme. What happens is just not right. I was joking about the RV hookup as I have an RV and used to live in it, and may in the future when I leave here (and you’re into “communal living.” Hey, do you know how to insert a link to a blog wwhen you write about them in your post? When you do that, the other blogger (like me) gets notified that you did. Also, it’s good for your SEO, I just learned.
I actually do NOT know how to insert a link, just how to copy and paste in the URL for a post. But then, I still don’t even know what a “theme” is. Unless you are talking about the “theme” for my blogging life…which is often confused and pitiful…hmm.
As for the RV hookup, our mountain retreat on the other side of the Cascades would be the place for your RV. We call it Casa Esmeralda.
Acreage, solitude, mountains, oh and both well and spring water, electricity, no neighbors to speak of (except US when we are there but even then, no requirement for interaction). What more could you ask for? ; -)
Anyway, thanks so much for the blogging help. I’ll work on it again soon.