I was fascinated by cohousing when I first heard about it thirty years ago. My husband and I had greatly enjoyed the years we lived in married student housing while he was in grad school. That housing included a tool co-op, a child care exchange, neighborhood (wading) pool parties, and potluck suppers. These were just a few of the many things we loved about that community and its focus on sharing and supporting each other. As I learned more about cohousing over the years, it seemed to be similarly built around community and sharing.

We established a good life for ourselves in Oshkosh, Wisconsin–traveling often and being civically engaged in the local community. Over the years we hosted 18 high-school-aged AFS exchange students! But in 2021, I was suddenly widowed and found I didn’t like living alone. I needed to choose how to live my life going forward, not just let it happen. Still fascinated with cohousing, an online search took me to the Oak Park Commons Cohousing website. After talking with some congenial members and testing the waters with some online committee meetings, I jumped in to the project and have been pleased with my decision ever since. Two of our three adult children are based in Chicago; proximity to both O’Hare and Midway airports takes me much closer to the rest of my extended family, so Oak Park is a perfect combination of location and intentional community for me.I am looking forward to living together as friends and neighbors within Oak Park Commons and in the greater Oak Park community. I anticipate continuing my volunteer work with AFS Intercultural Programs, taking full advantage of the multicultural richness of the Chicago metropolitan area. I’m also psyched to realize that I can immediately join the local League of Women Voters chapter and the Free Range Ukulele Society of Oak Park.