Life in 2011 was so hard for so many people. In addition to the typical economy worries and the stresses that come with a new baby we also had the complications of BS beginning transition and everything involved in that. This, needless to say, increased our financial strain as well as our time strain (with therapist appointments, etc). Some close friends of ours also had serious concerns in 2011. He lost his job and she has been a stay at home mom since their oldest (nearly 3) was born. Despite doing everything in his power for months he was unable to find a job. We discussed things and with me working from home and BS's schedule being what it is we needed additional child care assistance. We then arranged for our friends to move into our spare room with their children (they are also a bed sharing family just like we are) and exchange child care assistance for housing until they can get back on their feet.
Our friends moved in about a week ago. We now have a very full house, with 4 adults and 5 children, but it is more fun and functional than ever. There is always an adult around to handle any situation that may arise with the children, we all parent so similarly that there haven't been any issues with us helping out with each other's kids, and both sets of children are improving social skills by having more "siblings" to have to work things out with. This is what I imagine tribal living would be like, and personally, I like it. During this transition period every adult (and half of the children) in the house has gotten sick. However, rather than having the entire house fall apart and children being (somewhat) neglected while a parent tries to handle everything basically alone we now have support from more sides and things get done, even if only on a minimal level.
So, take two families relatively down on their luck. Mix them together, throw in some hard work and some patience, and you get one small tribe, still somewhat down on their luck, but with somehow much less stress. Lemonade can be made from even the sourest of lemons, but sometimes it takes creative thinking and hard work. We plan on our first joint outing and pagan rituals this weekend and I expect some odd quirks but for everything to come out relatively awesome. Welcome to the Kooky Household, where things just keep getting Kookier.
