communal sunday thoughts

so it continued last night in my state of meditation right before bed. a smart person battling a cold would have went to bed earlier but i'm not smart or sensible like that.

my mother has been thinking of buying land with her old friends and living communally. i even brought the potential land/house site brochure to her last weekend when i was in st. george for my cousin's wedding. The ceremony and setting was simple and beautiful, the words and advice rang with truth in the ears of the listeners. details on the weekend forthcoming... back to communal living... so this thought has been buzzing around in my head since my mother's wandering thoughts on the subject and discussion and hopes of the bed and breakfast near the coast of oregon. myself, i'm thinking moab, or western colorado, or an unknown place i haven't experienced yet.

times seem to be getting more difficult. i'm wondering if my own job might get cut in the upcoming months when direct practice seems to be the necessity (and maybe it should) but prevention and leveraging of funds often gets put to the side during economic hardships. we'll see how all that goes.

as for communal living, it seems to be the answer. so i've been thinking i should buy some land and by special invite i bring some friends together, live off the land, work part-time in town, everyone brings skills that help the group or at least a personality wanting around. we could raise kids together, explore trails together and live life simply again. i'm wondering if those times are coming more quickly than we realize.

this notion first came to me of communal living when i was living in moab working 30 hrs a week with full benefits. (why did i leave that?) i worked with a neat woman through a rural adoption cooperative. she lived outside of junction communally with her friends. she and her husband met at a string cheese incident concert, fell in love, and were now living with friends on a plot of land. they each had their place but they grew together. they fixed up airstreams in their land, she had her lcsw and worked part-time and seemed to enjoy a simple yet easy life. i went to her land once and was just enchanted by the whole experience. i loved their small home with a floor of inlaid rocks and petrified wood they had collected through hikes and a wood burning stove that warmed it. i think they had the secret.

also i just recently bought for a friend, the new barbara kingsolver book talking about living off the land, b/c my favorite friend at work said it was enjoyable and thought provoking. see the simple life is calling. i think the happiest times i've had in my life have been in small rural communities really enjoying the land.

so my friends i'm thinking about it, and you do too. i know a good man by the name of johnny, that plays in stonefed, that i think would teaching us how to grow. i'll finally take those welding classes i've been meaning to and read my dsm iv-tr again if it means i can live back in a rural bliss. pray about it. meantime i may need to reread desert solitaire.