Preparations
February 27, 2009
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How does one prepare to live in community with another family? Not just by being involved with them, but to actually live under the same roof as them! To be honest I have some of the anxieties that I had the week or so before my wedding. Of course this is quite a bit different, but it does have similarities. My everyday life is going to change quite abit. It wont just be about my family and our routine any more. I will wake up and find that my routine needs to be flexible in order to allow another families’ to mesh with mine. In the morning I can not just stumble to the kitchen in my pajamas and dig something out of the fridge. Or perhaps in the middle of the night watching a movie might be a disturbance. My mess wont just be in my way, but in EVERYONE’S way. It’s alot to adjust to. Alot like marriage. You have to be willing to give and take. Some days I may find that I am too exhausted to cook, but Vivian has made a large pot of soup to share. I may find that while Seth is at work, that I am distraught and tired but I will have someone around to talk to and be encouraged. And on that note, I hope to do the same for Vivian!
The most positive thing about living in community, as I can see, is how it has the possibility to change and mold me into a more complete and Christ centered person. By learning to share more of me and more of my stuff, I will undoubtedly be blessed as I find freedom in doing so. By learning to, well, LEARN, from another family I will find out stuff about myself that I need to change! Really, it will be part of the shaping and pruning that God has already begun in my life as I find less and less of my identity in myself and more of it in Him.
On a more physical level though, preparation to live in community means…. simplifying! There is only so much space, only so much room for 2 families’ accumulation of stuff! I have to admit though, I get a bit of a high posting things for free on Craigslist and seeing my posessions dwindle to 1/2 the amount of furniture I had at the beginning of the week. Seth may come home tomorrow to find me sitting on the living room floor staring at the wall…. He’s actually a bit worried because within 3 hours I had gotten rid of our couch, and was calling him several times a day wondering how attached he was to his music equipment….
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February 27th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Ahhh, it’s nice when we share our anxieties with others… the pretensions fall away and we can just be.
To assuage your concerns, lol:
I will be right there with you, stumbling around the kitchen barking half-awake at my toddler in my pj’s, trying to find something to eat. (me = NOT a morning person… unless you call lunchtime morning because that’s about when my brain actually catches up to the rest of my body.) I don’t get out of my comfy’s until I have to leave the house (unless your pj’s have a Victoria Secrets label… THEN you might wanna change, LOL)
And dinner? Oh, sometimes I get my act together and pull off somethin’ half way spiffy, but usually its an economical, one pot meal or two for the entire week, and the rest of the days we have a choice of pb sandwiches, popcorn and edamame, or a complete free for all fend-for-yourself night. I can only imagine this will continue on for some time, since I’ll be having a baby in April! I suspect we’ll have lots of breakfast-for-dinner nights because those are when Chris puts on his chef’s hat for me.
OH- and midnight movies, no problemo. We’ll either join you (if that’s okay) or be way asleep by then. I only hope you can hear your movie over Chris’ snoring from downstairs
It is an interesting time, isn’t it? To be preparing to live with another family? Weird!?!? Cool?!?! I feel a little more like moving into dorms in college than getting married- (i.e. will my roommate get up at 5:30 am to blow dry her hair right next to my bed? Will I be able to handle the tv on with “American Idol” while I’m studying? … not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything…). But self-consciousness never got me anywhere good, so my prayer is to let it go and be more focused on understanding others than being understood, if that makes any sense. I actually feel kinda blessed that I have the baby due so quickly- it sorta takes precedent in my list of things to be focused on, lol. Only one thing to obsess about at a time, or I’ll go on obsession overload!
Okay, this is becoming a post in and of itself, but hey.
It is what it is. Just like community!!!
Vivians last blog post..Happy Birthday indeed!
March 11th, 2009 at 12:08 am
i really am jealous of your intentional community . . . we are living with people out here, but it’s not the same without a yard and a place to grow things and . . . well, our roommates don’t like kombucha or composting . . .
can’t wait to get home and do this too!!!