‘Isolation isn’t the way forward’: readers on their unusual living arrangements

A group of three couples who bought an old farmhouse together. Photograph: Handout/Guardian Community

‘How many grandparents can say they get to hold their grandchild every day?’

In Atlanta, Carolyn Martinez, 65, lives in a household spanning four generations – and a lifelong friendship. Her 90-year-old mother, who has lived with her for more than 40 years due to various disabilities, shares the house with Martinez, 65, her adult daughter, aged 25, and her granddaughter, aged three months. “My mum has lived with me literally all my adult life,” she says. “She just wasn’t able to live by herself.”