Communal Living

My wife and I have had several experiences of communal living in our lives so far.  Communal living is when two or more families live together in the same house.  That's our definition at least.  We lived with my dad after my mom died and when our first son was born.  My wife's sister also lived with us for a time and that experience was one I look back on and wonder, "What in the heck was I thinking?"  Because my own emotions were a roller coaster of death and life, and I had two wives, one I was married to and living with, and one "wife" who was my dad that I gave emotional support to.  I do not regret it, though, as it shaped my life.  Our first experience as a family was in communal living.  Then we left for Africa and lived communally with a family in a nice urban house, and then moved to a less nice rural house with three families pooping in buckets, living in candlelight, and listening to the rooster on the front porch.  At the end of our time in Africa, communal living was our savior, and our Savior opened the door for it.  Then we moved back to the states and lived with my brother and his wife as they found out that they were pregnant (extreme positive emotion), and then that the baby would most likely die (extreme negative emotion).  Later, my wife's other sister moved in with us for a time and then for a time again.  I feel that communal living is much like a marathon.  When you are doing it, you realize that this was a bad idea.  But when you have finished it, you start trying to figure out a way to do it again.  Our children have grown up knowing communal living, and also being blessed with close relationships with family and missionaries.  So this is an idea, not to rush into lightly, that could change your life.