I’m so grateful for all the sweet messages and Facebook “likes” as Vancouver Cohousing comes to life. Getting settled in a much smaller space and making it work is taking a long time. But my kitchen and bathroom are fully functional, and the World’s Best Sofa Bed is a dream to sleep on.
This morning I got back into my daily spiritual practices and here I am writing a blog post after a break during moving. My cohousing neighbour Ian is a contractor and came over this evening to help me plan space-saving ideas and installations.
Cohousing is all about knowing your neighbours well. We’ve been through so much in the four-year struggle to bring this project to completion. Now I’m walking around with a silly grin, trying to take in that we’re finally in our homes and able to hang out so easily with each other.
Some impressions: I saw some of the boys trooping back from the 7-11 two blocks west with slurpies. Members are running into each other in the Victoria Drive commercial district two blocks east as we check out the stores. The sloping courtyard is perfect for the little ones to ride their scooters. Almost all the kitchens face into the courtyard to increase opportunities for connection. We’re dropping in on each other all the time.
Olive and Ben (proprietor of Earnest Ice Cream) move in a plant and chat with Saje.
Just about every one of us has found we’ve brought more than we want to accommodate in our homes. So we’re taking items we’re letting go of to the lounge in the common house and will hold a “free market” this weekend to choose what we want. Some stuff will be for the common house and what’s left at the end will be donated or sold.
That idea came out the first meeting onsite on Saturday evening in the common house. We also discussed our recycling program, which is already well under way. On Sunday, we had our first potluck in the common house. I read a pin on a cohousing Pinterest page that in cohousing, the common house is your living room. So true.
On Sunday, we had the first potluck in the common house.
Wade, right, hangs out with Jacob at the potluck.