We moved to Cascadia 15 years ago. At the time I was a single mom with a 7 year old boy. Cascadia gave us lots of support for those initial difficult years of single parenting and adjusting to a new city, new job and new schools, without the friends we had relied on in San Francisco. My son had instant “siblings” and playmates in the community. I had neighbors who would help out, with watching him after school, picking him up from games when I couldn’t leave my intense job at OHSU. Neighbors taught him skills I couldn’t, like car repair, wood chopping and how to hang out like a guy leaning on a shovel in the work party. In the teenage years he was initially embarrassed by his weird community (bunch of pinko commies his friends jokingly called us). But soon his friends wanted to come here to sleep over in the common house, and hang in the recreation room. Now he is grown and on his own, I have new little ones to befriend and play with in the community. There have been hard times, when egos, our needs for control and to be heard clashed like poorly tuned instruments. Some people have left the community because the fit was poor and at times there is still strife, but we are a fairly well-tuned team now, having worked through many challenges (and decided not to work through others). It is hard sometimes when I’m frustrated with the direction we take on an issue, but then I think back to cooking a meal for everyone after the work party, and the pure pleasure serving food and eating together after working together.

We are the Kumars, a three-generation family occupying two units here at beautiful Cascadia Commons.  I started out here 10 years ago after a job offer got me to consider life in the rainy Northwest.  I had always wanted to live in cohousing.  The folks at Cascadia were friendly, welcoming, and honest.  I bought a home here the first chance that I could.  Five years later, I adopted my son.  Two years after that, my mother moved in next door.  A short three weeks after that, I adopted my daughter.

Cascadia is a wonderful place to raise a family.  As of 2016, Cascadia now has 6 children under 6 years old.  We have safe, open spaces for kite flying, biking, and chasing butterflies.  The children can learn about gardening, home maintenance, and cooperative teamwork.   We have a lovely playground with a sandbox that was painted by the children. My neighbors have friendly dogs and fuzzy cats, so my children can interact with pets without MY having to take care of one.Our multigenerational community is so important to me.  The children make friends with elderly neighbors as well as kids their own ages.  They have many role models and trusted adults in their lives.  Meanwhile, I get the support of parents who also have young children as well as the perspective of those with grandchildren.

Cohousing is a great model of life for all of us.  The children learn about sharing because we share. They learn about living with a small footprint because we do.  They learn to love the outdoors because we have the freedom to explore.  They learn to communicate respectfully and clearly with others because, well, at least we TRY to!  We cannot even imagine living anywhere else.

I have lived in Cascadia Commons for over 13 years now, so almost a “senior resident”. My cats have lived with me during all those years, as well as my two sons for just a brief period. I love living here because the community is social, supportive and never dull. We have lived through various crises, losses and are still together. In fact we are all the stronger for it. I love celebrating with the kids, creating wonderful dinners and have tea parties. We share harvest from our veggie gardens and fruit trees, which I really appreciate, because it’s my favorite way to eat! When I was sick or had deaths in my family, everyone stood ready to assist. When I come home from work, (home health physical therapy) my neighbors greet me. When I am out of town ( my family lives in The Netherlands), my neighbors feed my cats.I work as  home health physical therapist and I am also a graduate of the  PSU Conflict Resolution program. I also enjoy hosting Couchsurfers and it has been a pleasure sharing my traveling visitors.