"All the lonely people, where do they all belong?"

(This post is written in bullet points because it started out as part of a larger "odds & ends" post and wound up being so lengthy, I decided it deserved to be highlighted on its own!) 

• Pamela messaged me recently to bring a first-person article about co-housing in the New York Times to my attention. Co-housing, of course, is a subject of great interest among those of us aging without children (particularly single childless women), among other demographic groups -- but I was both amused and annoyed to see that this article focused on its benefits for (just guess...!) MOMS with young children (because it's ALWAYS all about them, isn't it??)(eyeroll). 
• The headline -- originally reading " Is This the Cure for the Loneliness of American Motherhood?" was later revised to "parents" -- i.e., "Does Co-Housing Provide a Path to Happiness for Modern Parents?" (same song, second verse, right?)   
• There's a lively discussion in the comments section about both the pros & cons of co-housing -- food for thought for those of you interested in this option. 
• Both Pamela and Sarah (of Infertility Honesty) managed to comment before the comments section was closed. (Click on their names to link to their specific comments.) 
• As Pamela said, as part of her NYT comment, "this piece was also a lost opportunity to explore how to be more creative and embracing of all in society who experience isolation or loneliness in modern society. " 
• Said Sarah (in part -- hers was the very last comment published by the NYT before the comments were closed), "It seems everyone could potentially benefit from what co-housing has to offer, especially those who find themselves part of marginalized or unacknowledged groups.  It’s unfortunate this reality was all but omitted from this piece." (Her comment, to date, has been "recommended" 175 times and is currently the 11th most recommended "reader pick.") 
• Pamela also wrote a blog post that's worth a read (as well as the comments there). 
• Commenter hen3ry: "As a single person it's interesting living on my own in a country that offers next to nothing to singles with no children.  And there are other assumptions made when it comes to medical care or other sorts of things we do." (They go on to list some of these assumptions -- worth a read.)  
• Further down, hen3ry replies to a responder, "I've been told so many times that I should get married and have children and then I can live better.  (I'm nearly 63 and it's too late for that but I'd like to live in a place I can afford that's nice.) I think that Americans view anyone who doesn't think their way as the enemy especially if they don't conform outwardly.  As a lesbian I do not.  But I have the same needs as anyone else and all of us, whether we like each other or not, ought to understand that."
• Another commenter, Laura, wrote: "I disagree that mothers are lonelier than the elderly. Being at home with young children can be boring and isolating, but it is transitory; it only last a few short years. And you CAN get out and start a playgroup or find other ways to meet other parents. Elderly people are in a phase of life where people they love die, one after another, until they die themselves. And they often they lack the physical ability to get out of the house.  The  years between having young children and having adult children go by so fast." 
• (Of course, a mom couldn't resist getting in the last word, wisecracking, "They only seem fast when they're over. My daughter's infancy and toddlerhood lasted approximately 400 years.")
• Near the end of the comments, there was this comment from Rachel:  "What's going on out in America for people without children to cause so much animosity towards children and parents? I've read a lot of comments in the last month from people who think kids are destroying the planet and parents are trying to gobble up all the Fed tax dollars, lots of "don't have kids if you can't afford them" etc., when parents seem to just be sharing their struggles. Curious what the struggles are for those without kids that has created a feeling of scarcity of resources and us against you....." 
• I was VERY tempted to respond, but the comments closed before I could do so. I daresay a few of us (whether childless or childfree by choice) could have given her an earful/eyeful about our own struggles (which include the struggle, when we do muster up the courage to share, to be both heard and understood by the parenting majority)...!