March 5, 2008 @ 2:54 am | Filed under: Friends

“Life is short, but wide.”
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I spotted her as soon as I walked in the door of Fish City Grill last night. She moved from table to table – chatting, hugging – always with a huge smile on her face. She spotted us soon after we were seated and came over, scooting into the booth next to me.

“Can you believe it?” Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears and her hug was tight and warm.

I clutched her hand and looked around the restaurant, taking in the host of people that crowded in, making it appear more of a weekend crowd rather than that of a Tuesday night.

“This is amazing.” I really had no words to adequately describe the scene, nor my own emotions.

Everywhere I looked, people were smiling and mingling and greeting one another. It looked like one big family reunion. Except this family was a fairly new one. Not long ago they were strangers; now – because of one shared vision – this unlikely group of people had found family within one another.

I first met Darlene almost five years ago at a dinner party. At that time Coventry was still a seed of a dream inside her heart, but it was a seed that was already bursting at the seams.

I remember standing in the living room, having met her only moments before, and already I was held spellbound as I listened to the details of a dream she’d claimed as her life’s mission. I have to admit that even to me – a big dreamer myself – this seemed like a long shot. A huge undertaking.

Still, I couldn’t help but catch a bit of her excitement as she shared her wish of being able to move the special needs day facility from her home to a separate location where a trained staff and medical professionals could provide classes, health care, and occupational training.

Two years ago I got a catch in my throat as I drove past the new facility, seeing the first real sign go up in the front. Local families with special needs young adults began to learn about them and the family began to grow. A speech therapist came for a visit and – even though they couldn’t afford her services – she stayed on and now offers a full day of her care each week to the facility. Numerous volunteers and sponsors – including Fish City Grill – have taken on the burden of the Coventry mission.

Now maxed out with 17 day residents, the center is in the middle of planning their new, spacious facility that will sit on the land directly behind their current location. Set to house 60 residents, the next phase is to add residential living, more classes, more training, more medical partners.

Yesterday, as 15% of all Fish City’s sales went directly to the center, two different sponsors stepped up, both matching the restaurant’s contribution. By the time we left the restaurant, weaving in and out of the long line that still waited to be seated, I couldn’t help but think back five years to that first, initial conversation where I’d learned of Coventry.

I stepped outside and took one look back, choked with emotion at what I had just witnessed.

It was a realized dream.

Proof to us all that one small seed of a dream – housed inside of a heart that is passionate and committed – can bloom into the most beautiful portrait of reality possible.