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Among the Poppies:
What Came Before & What Comes Next
Among the Poppies:
What Came Before & What Comes Next
What Came Before
When I think about my childhood, the first person I think about is my grandma. My parents had jobs with nontraditional hours, so she was the person who watched my siblings and I when our parents were working. Our mom dropped us off before sunrise, and our dad picked us up right before dinner. She was a constant presence at everything through my childhood, big and small.
She taught me how to sew (I was a terrible learner); how to cook from a recipe without even using the recipe, since she clearly knew how to do it better (which I excelled at); and how to show up for the people that matter to you, which she was better at than anyone. She was at every soccer game, band concert, and birthday party for all of us.
My grandma’s last name was Poppy, and she covered her house in them. It was her last name, her birth month flower, and the theme of most her decorating. Now whenever I see a poppy flower, I think of her- which must be some type of irony, since poppies are the flower of remembrance. I have them in my house now in her honor.
What Comes Next
For me, 2023 has been a year of professional and personal highs. I celebrated one year at DARTS. I designed my first Annual Report. And I managed three interns over the summer. On a personal note, my sister got married, and we had an amazing year celebrating her and her new husband. And yet, with every high, there is a unique type of low. For every big event we celebrate, it’s an event that my grandma isn’t there to celebrate with us. She passed in 2015, and the ghost of her presence is still with me.
For DARTS, 2023 has been a year of incredible change. As we turn 50 in 2024, we have many things coming down the pipeline that lay the groundwork for big, sustainable changes that ensure we’re here for 50 more years. This year, we expanded outreach to the older Latine and LGBTQ communities in Dakota county to better serve a community that gets more diverse every year. We’ve strengthened programs like Tech Buddies that bring technology to folks that may not understand it yet- but with our help, they will. We have hired staff from diverse backgrounds to fill new roles. The DARTS team is strong and excited for what comes next.
The Now
Even as we look forward, we also look backwards. We want to pay homage to the 50 years that came before and brought DARTS to where it is today. Once upon a time, a group of older adults needed a way to get to free classes at Inver Hills Community College. One refurbished limo later, DARTS was born. Almost 50 years later, we have a fleet of vehicles and a host of other services that were discovered along the way. It’s a fine balance of past and future that have brought us to an amazing now.
Memory is a funny thing. When I look back through too many years’ worth of foggy windows, I can no longer remember the details- I couldn’t tell you the color of my grandma’s shirt or even how old I was. But I remember the feeling of that house and the warmth of her smile so deep it cannot be forgotten. My future and the future of DARTS are bright and exciting. I live in the now, one ordinary day at a time, with my eyes to the future and keeping company among the poppies that built me.
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