A Cohousing Moment

The other day, it was just me and Mica. (Orlando was at his ski class with Rom.) Mica and I had spent the morning together, with me being near and following his lead, interacting as needed and then fading in the background when not.

It can be very hard for me not to idealize this one-kid thing — how easy my days would be! I folded laundry. I cleaned the bathroom. I played baby dragons. I watched Mica making cakes and juice out of the big Magnatiles, using the coffee-table as an impromptu oven.

Sigh.

But that wasn't what I was going to write about. I was going to write about how when we finally got outside — to go check the mail at the Common House — we stepped out into the now-gone drizzle and saw two women, one with a little dog, walking up the path toward our house.

I said a quiet "Hi," as Mica turned toward the Common House, "It's Stone and Maddy!"

Kenny, their dad, was up there too, playing on the path, and Mica was heading toward them when the first woman caught my eye and said, "Could we ask you a little bit about living here?"

"Sure," I said, my gaze following Mica. He was safe amongst the neighbors, so I began talking to the women.

I told them, "We're the newest members!" and they asked, "Are there any openings?" And I told them, sadly, "No."

I mentioned that Vic, who's retired and often around, gives the tours and that I could see if he was home. They were sheepish — they knew it would have been better to have made an appointment, but one of them was just visiting for a couple of days, etc. etc. — but just then Sheila, Vic's wife, walked by.

I asked her if Vic was home and she said, "....Yes."

I explained the situation and she went off to see while the women apologized, they didn't want to intrude, etc. etc.

Turns out Vic was up for giving a tour, so I left them in his capable hands, and headed up the path to see Mica zooming around on trikes and bikes with Maddy and Stone.

Liz — the woman who helped us so much when we were buying the place, who loves to talk, who has two cute doggie-kids — was there, too, enjoying the "sun break." (Seattle-speak meaning that it wasn't raining at the moment, and that the sun could almost, honestly, actually be seen in the sky.)

Monica — one of the founding members and the instigator of singing us a welcome song — appeared, followed by a half-dozen AmeriCorps volunteers, to whom she was giving a tour. (She's a teacher and has AmeriCorps volunteers at her school and offered to show them more about cohousing.)

Mica waited for them to move off the path, and then zoomed down the hill again. By this time, Maddy, Stone, and Kenny had gone off to have lunch.

Liz and I talked while Mica rode, then she popped off to see Jan, and then Marlene walked by and mentioned that she was off to have to lunch with the former owner of our house, who was back visiting from out of state.

Then the two women, who had been on the tour with Vic, came by and thanked me again. Their tour was over, and they were positively beaming.

The one with the little dog said, "Now we know why you were so persistent about living here!"

She gazed off in amazement, and laughed, "We're going to do the same thing! The energy is so good here."

Then it was just me and Mica... he was done riding, and we went to the play area, and he climbed and I walked a few yards to get towels from home to wipe off the slide, and he slid, and he dug, and he swung on the swing, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and I watched the greens and browns, taking in the richness of home.