Good neighbors are a blessing.  Tonight I ran off to do a few errands and it seems like the world exploded and it took hours. At least, I think we got all on our to do list done!

As my older son and I were out, the youngest called to say the alarm was going off.  The reason I have an alarm is not to protect ourselves from the neighbors (they are great) but from any beach wanderer who wants to crawl into our windows which are very accessible. I also want to keep young ones in after being burned by my oldest son disappearing quite a few times through his teen years. So, I couldn’t just give out the code (and I don’t know how to reprogram it, yet). I called my neighbor and they agreed to come over, through the horrible sound, and put in the code.  A neighbor who drops everything for you and you can trust with your code!  That’s the community I want!

I was remembering how great I felt at cohousing. I felt so lucky to be there. And I was. There are so many that don’t even get off the ground. It was nice to hang out with the neighbors and see how they decorated their houses.  I did appreciate the design to encourage social interactions.

When I have memories like that I have to remind myself of how it all fell apart. How that design worked against us when I didn’t feel safe walking in and out of my house and neighbors who literally turned their backs on me and even a child of only 10 who did nothing.  How no one checked in on me when I obviously had my curtains drawn and was sneaking in and out?

So, if you live in cohousing and you feel lucky, you are.  I just hope you thank your lucky stars!