Response to Connie's Inquiry

Connie, first of all thanks for posting on our blog. I think it’s a great way to share about living in Liberty Village Cohousing Neighborhood.


I want to share about what it was like where we lived before moving here, why we moved here and why we stay.

Pete and I lived in a townhouse in Elkridge, Maryland very close to Baltimore and convenient to BWI airport. Pete works near 32 and the BW Parkway, so he had a very short commute. We knew our neighbors in the standard suburban way – we said ‘hi’ as we came and went from our home, but no in depth conversations for the most part. Our development had assigned parking spaces, which I guess can be considered a perk in town home communities. So our next door (right next door) neighbor had a parking spot next to Pete’s spot. Everyday when the neighbor parked he backed into his spot and when he got out of his truck he let his truck door hit the side of Pete’s car. Pete had a series marks that were identical all the way down the side of his car. Even as NEXT door neighbors we didn’t feel like we could say anything!


Here at Liberty Village I’ve been known to ask Martie, “Hey, Martie, is there any reason you are parked all crazy half on the grass?”. She replied something about wanting to leave more room for cars to drive by. I let her know I thought it was fine to park on the pavement and still leave room for people to drive by and that she was actually making mud along the side. She said something about not having thought about that. There is more of an openness to speak to neighbors about their daily lives as well as their actions in cohousing that we didn’t find in a “regular” community. That is one of the gifts I see to living here.

I don’t know what you know about my family being in Liberty Village, so if you’ve heard this sorry for the duplication. My dad, step-mother and 2 half-sisters built the house that is now Emily and John’s and my grandmother built the house that is now Ruth & Elanna’s. They were in the first group of houses built here.


In his last job Pete had to travel for work sometimes being away for 3 weeks at a time. I felt so alone in our old town house. After spending some time at Liberty Village activities and visiting my family I was clear I wanted to live here and be near them. I let Pete know and asked him if he wanted to live here with the big question of his commute being so much longer. After we both decided that we wanted to live here we built our home in 2002. Our house was the next to last house built so far here, Ann’s being the most recent.

My dad, Merlin, was VERY passionate about cohousing and Liberty Village. He was one of my everyday friends here in the neighborhood and a good friend to my husband as well. There are lots of stories about his part in Liberty Village being built as well as his “meticulous” ways (to put it gently – he was known at one point as the Hose Nazi – ask Beth to tell you some time, it’s something I think we can all laugh about now).

Even after he and my step-mother split and sold the house to Emily & John, he was going stay in Liberty Village to live in the apartment he built on the 2nd floor of his mom’s house next door. Unfortunately in the Fall of 2004 he passed very suddenly and unexpectedly and 3 ½ weeks after he died my grandmother (Nana to me or to everyone else she was Nellie) died in the grief of losing her son. He was 64 years old about to be 65 and Nana was 98. It was a devastating time for our family as well as Liberty Village. Dad had a wealth of knowledge of the construction of the infrastructure of Liberty Village and all of our homes. He was mostly retired and was able and willing to contribute so much work to the neighborhood.

So now in 2010 why are Pete and I still here...part of why we moved here was to be near family and they are all gone from Liberty Village. I didn’t know if I could stay after losing Dad and Nana, but was clear that I didn’t want to make a decision in the first year. So we waited to see how things would play out and now even 5 ½ years later I am still crying at the loss as I write this, but we are obviously still here. For me I realized that I didn’t want to live in a “regular” neighborhood again. I didn’t want to have those kind of neighbors. I may not be best friends with everyone here, but I know if I can’t talk to them there are facilitators available to help us work out any differences. There are varying degrees of closeness to everyone here, but the connection of being fellow cohousers is absolutely priceless.

So that’s my story about living here and why I think cohousing is fantastic. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

Chelsea

Talking Turkey

Yeah, I know, it's a silly title. I guess it came up because I want to invite folks to speak plainly and from the heart. I want to use this blog to get input from Liberty Villagers about questions and thoughts I'm having about living and aging in an intentional community. I got an old copy of Communities magazine that was devoted to just that topic, and it had some good food for thought.

Some of the things that were said were that older folks like intentional community because they value security and supportive relationships, as well as what traditional nuclear families provided: love, nurture, mutual support, compassion, a daily support system of trusted friends, dignity and respect.

This all sounds good to me; one of the reasons I've been looking for an intentional community is to have a place to grow old in.

I see I'm running out of space, so I'll save the rest for my next post. In the meantime, do you identify with these reasons/benefits for community? Have you found them here? BTW, I suspect all ages will identify with many, if not all of the values mentioned above.

I want to clarify my ideas about community, and whether LV is the place for me. Please be forthright! Thanks, Connie