A Little Gossip

Blog background music: 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake

Who else is loving the longer days?! I feel like a big lumbering bear that is just waking up from hibernation, anxious to break out of my cave and announce spring with a giant roar! Ok, so I probably wouldn’t roar, but perhaps a spirited fist pump while tilting my head up towards my beautiful friend the sun. Sometimes I feel like surviving the cold, dark winter is a yearly challenge for which the reward is finally seeing the first crocus poke up through the ground.

So in the spirit of new beginnings, I’ve been thinking of mini-goals for myself. Actually, they’re small parts of the overall mission to bring the need for special needs housing to the world around me. I’ve been enjoying the story-telling aspect of my experience here at Crescent Commons but I know it’s time to start making these hopeful words into actual new successes. I feel like it’s standing at the top of a waterslide...you know the ride will be amazing but OH MAN is it hard to take that first leap! So where do I go from here? How do I translate the giddy feeling I have every morning I wake up here into actual positive progress in spreading the word?

Certainly something anyone can do is share what they’ve heard about Crescent Commons, it’s like the best gossip ever (gossip to feel good about!) I’ve happily taken part in that, but I know soon I will have even juicier gossip for you. How? Because I feel a field trip or two in my immediate future. I’ll take a trip over to Orchard Commons, the other community built in Allendale which served as a model for Crescent Commons. The Allendale Women’s Club is hosting a tour of the local library in a few weeks, so color me SO there! Not to mention a movie night hosted by fellow Crescent Commons resident, Stephen. I look forward to bringing a special movie treat to that occasion-a little something my very good friend and I use to refer to as ‘lard corn’ which is nothing more than popcorn with WAY too much butter melted on top! Maybe at movie night or at the library tour I’ll get to meet even more people and get their perspective on what this transition has been like for them and how they can help me in my ongoing plot to bring accessible housing to every inch of the planet!!! OK, the entire planet may be somewhat unrealistic but perhaps we’ll just start with bringing the word to everyone we encounter and watch as that ‘goodwill wildfire’ spreads.

So what kind of advice can you offer me in spreading the word? I already have some ideas thanks to some brainstorming with my sister. And while I’m NOT going to storm the White House anytime soon (too many stairs!) I WILL be taking my fieldtrips...going to other successful complexes like my own, getting more personally involved with organizations such as The United Way and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Back in school, that’s what field trips were all about, right? Going to a museum or farm and learning about so many wonders of the world around us that you could never fully appreciate by just reading about it. And so shall I do-go on fact-finding missions to hopefully add to my arsenal of knowledge and above all else-share everything I learn along the way.