'C' is for Commune

Those of you who had the privilege of watching Sesame Street back in the early 80's should get the above reference ('C' is for Cookie, it's good enough for me), and if not, well, you must not have a two-year-old in which to re-live your old childhood memories!

But seriously, this post came to life in my mind as I drifted off to a peaceful sleep last night (well, as peaceful as it could be with a Cookie Monster song playing in my head!).  Normally I go to sleep fretting and worrying about all of the stuff I have to get done the next day and it takes a real concerted effort to get my brain to SLOW DOWN!  This was not the case last night as I happily thought of the fact that my mom and I would be spending the day together tomorrow (now today).  As a stay-at-home mom (which I love, don't get me wrong), it is an absolutely wonderful experience to have the opportunity to spend the day with another adult and share in the responsibilities of daily living/child rearing, etc.  Thus brings me to my point about the commune...

You see, I have a thing for communes.  My parents, my husband and I have a pseudo-communal living situation, and I can't overstate how truly amazing and beneficial this is for all of us.  Unfortunately, I am the only one who is able to stay home all of the time, as my mom, dad and husband all work out of the home, but how great would it be if we were all able to work a lot less and spend more of our time together doing work/living around the farm?  I know, I was born in the wrong time!  And, please, don't get all women's lib on me... I am not saying women should stay home and be barefoot in the kitchen, I am saying we should ALL work less, play more and spend more of our time doing the things that are REALLY important: growing our own food, taking care of our land, spending time with each other, etc. 

Here is another example: my girlfriend just had a second baby, and her first baby is only 18 months old.  While she is extremely grateful and fortunate to have two beautiful, healthy children, she is also feeling somewhat overwhelmed as you can well imagine.  She came for a visit this week and I couldn't help but think... This would be soooo much better for all of us if she lived next door and we could spend our days together helping each other out; holding babies, playing with toddlers, doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.  I have no idea why our society has moved to the point where we don't rely on each other AT ALL for things like this, but I think that it is terribly isolating and wrong.  Historically, there are many communities and cultures who have thrived while living the mentality that 'it takes a community to raise a child'... and I couldn't agree more. 

(This is not my friend btw)

Anyone want to move out to my commune?  I am officially accepting applications.

Food for thought...

Marebare xoxo :)