Who of you are tired out there?
Who of you are weary?
Who of you have lost a friend or family member?
I greet you in your grief, in your uncertainty, in your pain and your exhaustion.
My god, what a year.
I must also greet within you the ways that this year has brought some things into focus. The places within you that have been tilled and harrowed so hard that something new has been birthed or must be.
I put before us now, all the ways we long for a new way. The jaw clenching hope we must dare have for the reordering and restoration of our society and ask the wind of courage to blow hard and the ground beneath us to remind us of our common humanity. The fact that we are inextricably bound together must be our sustenance for the long road ahead.
As many of you are bone dry and thirsty-I ask you/beg you to keep on. And I thank you for how far you’ve come. I thank you for believing in and supporting Aurora Commons as an expression and animation of our collective hope.
It’s been this absurd, jaw clenching hope of a new way and the brief glimpses of restoration and healing that has kept me sustained for the last 12 years of co-creating and nurturing Aurora Commons.
As a Co-Founder of Aurora Commons; a partner, creator and midwife of our programs, it has been an extraordinary honor to be a part of growing this beautiful community response from its inception in a backyard to what it is today. Now, after careful deliberation, I have determined that the time has come for me to step down and onto something new. I’m sure you can understand this decision does not come easily, but it is emboldened by my deep belief in the organization. The Commons has become widely recognized as an innovative model of care, and as an essential fixture in Seattle’s social fabric. My resignation comes at a time of expansion, financial stability and growth, for which I am truly grateful.
Like many of you, this year has been a refining fire in my life and my slow burning desire has turned into a call to create a new expression of care in this Aurora community called Sacred Streets. I will still be around Aurora Commons as a Founder and will continue to grow and deepen my relationships with our unhoused neighbors, but my focus will be more on consulting and education as well as soul care on the streets. Please know that I bless this place and it’s people and leave with more certainty than ever that the Commons is the most special place I have ever been a part of.
I wish more than ever that we could gather together, that I could see each of your faces and embrace you but alas, that time has not yet come but I can almost taste its sweetness in the anticipation. As I approach my formal end to “job duties” here at the Commons, please know I think of all of you and welcome any questions, comments or encouragement. Thank you again, each of you, for your continued belief and support in the Commons. And thank you, each of you, for your belief in me through the years. I look forward to seeing you still and continuing on in the good hard work.
Please keep on.
And may we keep on until there is no more breadline.
And- please keep in touch!
sparrow@oursacredstreets.com
oursacredstreets.com
Your neighbor in the journey-
Sparrow Etter Carlson
Co-founder, Aurora Commons
A Letter of Transition from Co-Founder Sparrow(Lisa) Etter Carlson
