Thoughts about aging in community

This is a photo of the Potala in Lhasa taken by my husband, Steve.

Hi all, I just lost the post I was working on through my own apparently unending ignorance about how to do stuff on this blog.  Anyway, what I was talking about is that I have been thinking lately about the concept of Intentional Community especially as it relates to aging.  I have a long time interest in cohousing, which is a living environment that incorporates the concept of intentional community.  Basically the idea is that people come together who want to live in community.  Usually the dwellings are separate family type dwellings, either condo like or maybe town homes or even single family homes. Usually the communities are developed around a common interest or activity.  Some are developed around urban gardens, sustainable living or something like that.  I saw one in Portland that was developed around a shared interest in urban biking.  Like commuter bikers, that kind of thing.  Anyway, there are many different kinds and maybe hundreds of these communities in the U.S. and many more all over the world.  Scandinavian countries are kind of where this concept began, I think.  There are a number of these places that are for seniors. These ones are developed around the idea of people wanting to age together, care for others in that process and be cared for in return, with the idea that one would stay in the community as long as possible and maybe pass on in the community.  

Both Steve and I have dreamed about the  idea of joining together with friends of about the same age and living together as we continue to age.  The vicissitudes of timing, geographic considerations, etc. may make that dream kind of hard to realize. .  However, I don't think that the idea of joining an already existing senior cohousing community is that far off.  Here is a link, in case you might want to look more into the concept of cohousing:  http://www.cohousing.org

Here is one for senior cohousing:   http://www.elderspirit.net