<\/p>\n
The Commune<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Perhaps my life has been random.<\/p>\n
Or it could be that every step has been planned.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why did I extemporaneously quit dental school?<\/p>\n
If the stars were different or the sun out that day<\/p>\n
maybe I would have stayed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Calling Mike from the battered, graffiti covered pay phone<\/p>\n
and asking if I could join his commune.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The subsequent call to my mother who understood my quitting<\/p>\n
dental school but asked that I not join one of those hippie communes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mike helping me move in and then finding that I had to be voted in.<\/p>\n
The questions and answers in front of the group.<\/p>\n
How did I feel about group nudity was a tough one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The celebratory joints when I was accepted.<\/p>\n
The joyous jaunts to second hand stores to buy old rugs and furniture.<\/p>\n
The nine-bedroom house for $350 per month rent in Philly\u2019s fashionable Main Line<\/p>\n
that was only so cheap because it awaited demolition to become apartments.<\/p>\n
The landlord who said we could do whatever we want with the home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All of this in stark contrast to any other alternative that I faced on that<\/p>\n
dark and rainy day in a run down section of North Philly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was laughter and creativity and talk about changing the world.<\/p>\n
For me it was a pause in my hyped up engine of having to be somebody.<\/p>\n
A time to regroup and realize that everything ahead didn\u2019t need to be planned<\/p>\n
when you are twenty two.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I gained the strength in that group to then be alone.<\/p>\n
And after a seven thousand mile hitching adventure that became the rest of my life<\/p>\n
I found a place where the rain wasn\u2019t depressing and a vocation that<\/p>\n
captured my fancy and the just right partner for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All because I was smart enough to know I needed a group to make me<\/p>\n
realize that I could be alone which I needed to understand before I could clearly see.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Commune Perhaps my life has been random. Or it could be that every step has been planned. Why did I extemporaneously quit dental school? If the stars were different or the sun out that day maybe I would have stayed. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116317,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116280\/revisions\/116317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}