By Debbie Fox, Member

You’re moving to Colorado where you don’t know anyone but your 30-something children. Since my children migrated to Colorado, the last one 8 years ago, I had always planned to retire there. During my many visits, 3 or 4 times per year, I would daydream about living in Denver. I was leaving my five sisters, many nieces and nephews, a family business, and good friends in Ohio, where I have lived all my life. What was I going to do with myself in a new environment? Where will I live? How will I develop a support group and friends? These are questions I was asking myself, but never spent much time really thinking about the answers. All I knew was that I didn’t want a single family home with a big yard to take care of and where I might be isolated.

I became aware of cohousing after my nephew sent me an email about two new cohousing communities forming in Boulder and Longmont. A light bulb went on and I immediately started researching cohousing and making plans to visit as many communities as possible during my next visit to Denver. Luckily, there are many to choose from in the greater Denver area. Cohousing appeared to solve most of my concerns: a ready made community that consisted of people who were committed to “living in consensus”, neighbors that I could call on for a cup of sugar, a ride to the store, friends to talk to and do things with, the knowledge that I would have people around me that would be concerned about my well being. My next step, attending the 2017 National Cohousing Conference in Nashville, helped me learn more about cohousing and confirmed that this environment was something that appealed to me. I’m looking forward to working hard to build an intentional community in Colorado and living in cohousing.