Today, one of our elders passed away.

Posted with permission from Tierra Nueva Cohousing community.

Today, one of our elders passed away. Tierra Nueva Cohousing has had other elders cross over in our early days, but Ken has been with us for our entire 12 years of living here. He was a staunch purveyor of World Peace, always bearing witness in any discussion involving conflict, as an advocate for peace. The children of Tierra Nueva adored Ken, as he was fond of reading them stories in our Common House library. Today, a table in the Common House has a photograph of Ken reading to young Aiden, who shared the same birthday, surrounded by roses from our cutting garden.

I was baking bread this morning, just adding flour to the sponge and could see outside my window a tender scene. Ken's wife was being hugged and held on the pathway, by another neighbor. This touched me so deeply. A simple gesture that says so much about why community is important. Why we do the difficult work of relationship. To be here for one another no matter what. To be present for one another through thick and thin, through both joyful times and times of grieving.

This is how a community's heart beats.
PattyMara

ps: something that I thought of later today, about Ken, I saw Ken every morning (their home is very near ours) as he walked to the mailboxes to pick up his newspaper. Very often I was out in our yard gardening. Whenever he passed by I would say "Good morning, handsome!" and he would light up with a big smile. And like clockwork he would reply "Good morning, beautiful!" And every time he said it, I believed him. What a gift.