Page 25 - C.A.L.L. #39 - Spring 2015

60-year-old Bob's birthday, both with great joy. Many of us welcomed Dmitri
just after his birth, and we've been present to the changes in Bri and Alex's
lives as they moved through the first year of parenthood. We celebrated
Morgan's 16th birthday with a rite of passage ceremony and cheered him as he
left for college last year; he credits much of his ease of transition to college to

his intergenerational experiences in community. And at every full moon and
seasonal ceremony, the eldest and youngest present are honored as they jointly
add a stick to the ceremonial fire.

As with so much of what we do here at Dancing Rabbit, we're in an experimental
transition. The thirty-somethings are pushing 40 and may soon find themselves
part of Bob Dylan's "old road" ("As the present now will later be past, the order
is rapidly fadin', And the first one now, will later be last…"). And that's a great
thing for Dancing Rabbit!

We’re already developing infrastructure with the less physically-abled in mind.
We’re moving out of the pioneer phase of development and becoming a village
with abundant living spaces and a robust internal economy. We have the

creativity to experiment with more ways to incorporate the older crowd into the
vibrant social fabric here. As a maturing community culture, we're ever-learning
to value the wisdom of life experience for whatever it may offer us. I’m hopeful
that, as we transition, we’ll naturally attract older folks who are looking for a
meaningful place to spend the rest of their lives. It’s certainly been a
meaningful one for me!

And as for me, I've stopped trying to convince myself that age doesn't matter.
It DOES matter. We ARE different throughout the various stages of life. And

with that acceptance, I finally embrace the role I apparently jumped into when
Patricia identified me as "elder" at Dancing Rabbit. Though I have no crone to
guide me, I will move, as gracefully as I can, into true elderhood, gathering
wisdom as I go.

I’ll be there to "lend a hand" as the Dylan song says, to those who make the
aging transition after me. I find myself more and more dedicated to working
with my fellow communitarians to build a place-- and a culture-- that counters
the subtle practices of age-separation. The times ARE a changin', and I believe
that soon we’ll be celebrating a deeper kind of intergenerational living at
Dancing Rabbit.

Sharon has lived at Dancing Rabbit for the past 5 years.

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