The bureaucrats – who I am sure were well-meaning, nice people –thought it was a great idea. The residents will share kitchens! This would be nice, they could cook together, have meals together and wouldn’t that be a good thing? Nope. It was hell. Bacon Congregate Bacon Congregate came into existence in 1984. An old […]
Read More...Meanwhile They Own a Condo
Judy and Donna own a condo they have lived in for almost 20 years. Says Judy, “By buying together and moving in at the same time, it is all fair. No one has a foot over the other. We have mutual respect and a 50/50 arrangement.” They were already housemates when they made the decision to […]
Read More...Sharing home with other adults? Remodel to Keep Peace
This post was originally published in the Shreveport Times, August 21, 2014. Author Jeb Breithaupt It doesn’t happen too often, but every now and then I’ll get a call from a pair of good friends who are getting a little older and have decided to share a home both for companionship as they age and to […]
Read More...Solterra Co-Housing Paves the Way for Senior Aging-in-Place
When Shelley’s father was no longer capable of living on his own, Shelley went looking for a way for him to live. She knew that an institutional setting would not work for him. She says, “Dad had to be in control. He needed to make all his own decisions.” Shelley, who is a Canadian, researched […]
Read More...Can’t We Have Kindness from Our Government?
Two buses of Vermonters went to the Women’s March in Washington. I helped organize them. In November, when we started, we had no idea that the march would develop sister marches and that by the time the day was over there would be more than three million people participating in 914 marches worldwide. (A high […]
Read More...I’m Not Ready Yet to Share Housing
“Oh no, I’m not ready yet” is what she said to me when I called her. Shirley (not her real name) is ninety-two and a member of my extended community. She lives in a two-floor condo, but because she uses a walker lives only on the first floor. The second floor is unused. She has […]
Read More...What Are You Doing for the Holidays?
What are you doing for the holidays? This question, I’ve noticed, can be difficult. When I was younger, it was easy. One expected to hear of trips to parents and grandparents, sometimes in far away and exotic locations. I find that the question is no longer easy. Now that I am in my early sixties, […]
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