Our new location ...

Starting in the early '80s my wife and I were drawn to the idea of living among a community of people sharing our values.  Knowing, however, the dismal history of `utopian communities' we were cognizant of the dangers of cultism.  (Look it up). 

The cohousing experiences in Denmark really appealed to us.  Read more about cohousing at this link:  Cohousing

Returing, in 2002, from a week long conference in Seattle we took a side trip to a location we'd visited in the '80s in Arizona.  We found a fledgling cohousing community in Prescott that really appealed to us.  We were there for a day and a half.  Just before we left to fly back to Chicago from Phoenix we had coffee with a few cohousing residents.  In 15 minutes we decided to purchase a house in the community and get serious about moving there as soon as possible. 

As it turned out on our return to Chicago I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to join a community based group private practice of psychologists ( Hoover & Associates ).  My `dream job.'  My wife's enjoyment of her own work as a geriatric social worker ( CJE Senior Life ) would have been a major loss, too.  And then there was the fact of our boys, grandchildren, family and friends.  We decided to stay in Chicago and rent out our place in Prescott.   

Now that we're both retired (wife last year, me this June) we're making the move to the remarkable community of people in Manzanita Village ( Link ). 

We will sorely miss our children, grandkids and friends in Chicago.  And we are intent on having them come and stay with us often, frequently, for long periods of time and lots and lots and lots more :) 

I'm chomping on the bit to have more time to train on the bikes.  There are so many new and interesting people, couples and families who have moved to the Village that we're both excited to have more time to socialize, share and work towards the values of `community.' 

I will not miss the misery of Chicago traffic, congestion and weather.  My wife, though, has a capacity for appreciating Chicago that I simply can't match.  We will both miss our family. 

Another page in life to turn.