What are you hoping for these days? The World Series is over so that's not on my list anymore but seriously, what are your hopes right now? The answer is easy for our daughter. Her biggest and most abiding hope is to live in Harmony. In case you don't know, Harmony, which is currently being built, is a 91 rental unit, 6 story building which is inclusive, accessible, supportive and affordable for folks with disabilities, seniors, students and others who need below market housing and want to live here in the White Rock/South Surrey area. Sounds simple doesn't it?
It has been a dream years in the making with so many amazing people from UNITI and the Semiahmoo Foundation making big plans so that it might be a reality. The scope of the thing defies description here but in our world it comes down to one very simple thing which could bring about huge transformation and growth for our eldest daughter: hope. Her hope, our hope, the hope of a large group of extended family and friends is that she might find a place there. I don't think you realize what a big deal it is to live independently until you are told that you probably can't do it. It is something almost all of us take for granted.
It has been a dream years in the making with so many amazing people from UNITI and the Semiahmoo Foundation making big plans so that it might be a reality. The scope of the thing defies description here but in our world it comes down to one very simple thing which could bring about huge transformation and growth for our eldest daughter: hope. Her hope, our hope, the hope of a large group of extended family and friends is that she might find a place there. I don't think you realize what a big deal it is to live independently until you are told that you probably can't do it. It is something almost all of us take for granted.
Our daughter grew up thinking that she would always live with us until she discovered the possibility of independence that Semiahmoo House, UNITI and Harmony presented. As older parents we have faced the reality of our own mortality with honesty; we are in the declining years of our lives. So the prospect of this safe, inclusive housing for our daughter was the answer to prayer.
We know that there is no guarantee that she will moving in to Harmony in just over a year; the list is long and the demand, very high. But the hope, the possibility, the reality of such a home available if not to her, then to others like her, is a beautiful thing. So we keep on hoping....
