It's clear that the people care and that they know that I have to go through this myself, but they're with me in it. It's important for you to be in a place where you can have time by yourself. Even though I'm in one of the smallest units, and even though I am basically an introverted person, I've never felt intruded upon. I've always felt that I have as much space as I need to be by myself, to heal myself. That was one of our goals, because there was a lot of concern that we were going to share ourselves ad nauseam .
People can have their needs for solitude met, as well as their needs for community.
As a parent I've benefited when, for example, Tim takes the kids sledding, Jeff gives us things that are broken and Lucas gets to take them apart. I think we have developed a shared sense of what it takes to get along together. We are all willing to be a little softer, to listen to people, and to reconsider what we want in light of what other people want. At this stage of our society, I think we have to develop skills to get along better. I'm a person that tries to live my ideals, and so it seems like my only choice was to do this.