Living it Up

All my adult life, I've been a bit of a communist at heart. A communist in the literal sense, if not the political. I've always thought it would be wonderful to live on some land with a few other like-minded, laid back families. We could share the mortgage, the chores and the joy of family life. Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow white turtle doves. Yep. A hippy commune. I know that in reality this rarely works out; a family unit is a special thing. It takes a lot of work to make a family work, and adding to the mix usually makes things harder. Yet, here we are, our closest friends living in a camper trailer in our carport and I have to say this is the best life has to offer. There are the practical things...I can take a shower in the day time even if Maia is awake, there are more eyes looking after the children, more hands working away at the weeds (the garden is looking very lush these days), more fingers available to pry things out of the dog's mouths. And, since I like to do the cooking, and there are more people to cook for, I feel more validated in doing what it was I wanted to be doing in the first place. Last Saturday, there was a rare moment when everyone was home at the same time, all ten of us. Maria was folding laundry, Ralph was mowing the lawn, Coby was filling in potholes in the driveway, Adam was cutting up the maple tree limb that fell a couple weeks ago, I was making food, Stevie was walking the baby around and the three youngest kids were running around playing and learning and growing. There was just so much going on. I will be so sad when Maria and Ralph's new home is ready for them to move in to. I had the good life before, but now I have more of the good life, and I'm not ready to settle for less.