Coming Home: Bringing my Dad home and Cultivating Peace

In the dictionary the word "home" is defined as many things:

One definition stood out to to me:

Growing up, I always followed my dad around. He would be going on a hunting trip and I would try to climb in his jeep while I was still in diapers. I was always tinkering with his tools and "helping" him fix things as a young child.

My dad has undergone six intensive spine surgeries throughout his life and I grew up hearing about how I would help him with cleaning his stitches when I was two or three and he told me I would say things like, "owie dada".

He never seemed disabled to me. He was always so involved with me and my younger sister. Taking us to the park to play barbies, camping in his old brown Custom Deluxe Chevy, teaching us about life and how to hit a ball.

He has been in and out of "affordable housing" developments over the years. The latest of which he decided to leave just over a year ago. I was frustrated and confused to learn this, because it was something he ccould afford and affordable housing is hard to come by these days.

I knew about the problems living there: homeless people living in the stairwells, drugs in and out of the complex, police showing up at all hours of the night responding to the chaos. Even then, I thought, "please stay, I just want you to be safe. I just want you to be housed."

When I asked him about leaving, he explained it to me like this,

"When someone is surrounded by chaos, suffers from anxiety and just plain constant worry, peace is the commodity they seek. Even if it means being unhoused. At least I have quiet, at least I have peace."

When he told me that, I just broke. I understood my dad for the first time in a long time and I understood. We're all looking and deserving of peace.

So my husband and I decided it was time to bring him home. We converted the back half of our garage into a 360 sq ft apartment. He has his own bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living space.

Since we started, something else happened that caught me by surprise. My son got a new best friend. "Pow Pow, as Cody calls him, is always up for nerf wars in the back yard and long walks after dinner. They just put in a garden this spring and they tend to it together. Cody is learning so much from his Pow pow and I can see peace in my dad for the first time in a long time. If I'm being honest, my family's life is better with my dad there. It just is.

While we have the budget for completing his apartment, he is in need of furnishings and some appliances to make this his home.

I have made an online registry that you can access here:

https://www.myregistry.com/giftlist/cominghometravisbashaw

On the registry you can choose an item to help my dad furnish his new home.

If you are more comfortable with giving money, you can do so through this go fund me page.

My dad deserves peace and a place that he feels safe. He deserves that.

Thank you for your time and consideration

-Sarah