Lisa (Right) visiting Rashida (Left)

By: Lisa Grant with Anna Borek, Support Worker III

My name is Lisa. I am 42 and I have been living at Elmcrest most of my life. Since I was born I have been struggling with many obstacles due to my severe  physical and intellectual disabilities.

My support staff say that I am caring, sweet, gentle and very graceful – that I should be a ballerina. I love nice clothes and my staff thinks that I am a fashion diva. I sometimes wonder how they know because I don’t have the ability to talk.

I have many dreams; some will never come true like being the Prima Ballerina, but some already have. I received the greatest gift of my life – True Friendship.

This friendship started in June 2014 when I got a very energetic and talkative roommate, Rashida. It was as if our souls just understood each other upon first meeting. Through the next year our bond transcended barriers, including a severe decline of Rashida’s health. When she lost ability to walk and talk our language of friendship was not based on words but meaning.

Many times we have chosen to share our discomfort by just holding hands. In the sweetness of our friendship there are laughs and sharing of simple pleasures. Rashida is always making sure that I am comfortable and happy.

In July 2015, two weeks before Rashida’s 39^th birthday, she left Elmcrest and moved to a long term care facility where her high needs were better supported. I was very sad, but my staff told me that true friendship is not about being inseparable; it is being separated and having nothing change.

Since Rashida moved, I visit her every month with my staff. While I am waiting for my Sunday Wheel-Trans ride I can hardly control my excitement! My staff say that I am smiling with my eyes, my cheeks are flushed and my hands are flung sky-high and clasped together with happiness. On the day of Rashida’s birthday we celebrated at her new home. We brought lots of Rashida’s favourite colourful and butterfly-shaped balloons and had a great time.

My friendship with Rashida is the greatest sweetener of life and I am very grateful that with our staff’s support it can bloom and prosper. My staff told me that one wise man named Joseph Addison said, “Friendship raised to highest pitch of enjoyment is a secret which but few discover”. –I am one of the lucky few.

Note: Sadly, Rashida passed away recently. This story is a tribute to her and the friendship she shared with Lisa.

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