| I realized the other day that it has now been 5 years | | | | one where we are moving continually toward the |
| since my husband and I first moved forward with the | | | | horizon. The thing about the horizon is that we never |
| idea of opening a clinic for children and families. About | | | | reach an endpoint - it is always out there ahead of us, |
| that same time when we began trying to think of what | | | | guiding us forward, and leading us to new experiences |
| we would name it. The process of making that | | | | along the way. We reach one point and realize that |
| decision ranks as second only to agreeing on names | | | | there is still more ahead. Such is the journey of life, and |
| for our four children! Let's just say there were many | | | | such is the journey of parenting our children. |
| ideas bounced around, and many lists were created | | | | Our clinic's mission is to ensure that no family ever |
| and tossed. It is a difficult thing to capture both purpose | | | | stops looking to and moving toward the horizon as a |
| and personality in a name that resonates with people. | | | | result of a child's disability. I have witnessed too many |
| As we wrestled with this, there were two words that | | | | families who, upon receiving a diagnosis, get stuck with |
| continued to grab us - connections and horizons. We | | | | their head down. They become focused on the |
| were driving in the car one day, and the name | | | | immediate step in front of them, instead of looking to |
| "Connections Center" came to mind. I quickly wrote it | | | | the horizon and all the potential it holds. These families |
| down on a scrap of paper so I wouldn't forget it. Later | | | | especially need to keep their heads up, looking to the |
| that night after the kids were in bed, I sat down and | | | | horizon and gaining forward momentum to continue |
| Googled "Connections Center" only to find that it | | | | the journey. Life should be lived to the fullest, and the |
| already existed. For those of you who don't know this, | | | | journey must go on regardless of the disabilities that |
| the Connections Center in Houston is the clinic where | | | | may get in the way. Using the word horizons in our |
| Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) Â(R) | | | | name is an attempt to capture that image and |
| was founded. To this day I know it was no | | | | meaning. Everyone has their own personal horizon that |
| coincidence that I thought of that name. I had not heard | | | | guides and fuels their journey, and we walk alongside |
| of RDI Â(R) before, but had been seeking a | | | | families to support them in that process. |
| treatment philosophy and program that addressed | | | | You can see that the selection of our clinic name was |
| what I found lacking in everything else. Suddenly, the | | | | a defining process for us in many ways. It led us to |
| search for a name for my new clinic had led me to | | | | discovering RDI Â(R) , our core treatment philosophy |
| the program that would later certify me and become | | | | and approach; and it led us to defining our mission. |
| the philosophical foundation of our clinic. | | | | Over the past 5 years, a lot of things around here |
| I then decided that we would use the word "horizons" | | | | have grown and changed; but our purpose and mission |
| in our name. Why Horizons? I have always loved the | | | | of guiding families toward the horizon has remained the |
| imagery and symbolism of the horizon - that point | | | | same. I'll leave you to consider one of my favorite |
| where the earth and the sky meet, where beautiful | | | | quotes, which is actually a Norwegian proverb: |
| sunrises and sunsets exist, and where you can reflect | | | | "Look not to the ground for your next step. Greatness |
| on what isn't yet but has the potential to be. Lynn | | | | lies with those who look to the horizon." |
| Walker Huntley said, "The horizon line, which is always | | | | If you already have your eyes on the horizon, then |
| before us, is our future. It embodies not what is but the | | | | keep moving toward it! If you've been living with your |
| promise of what can be…You must help show | | | | head down, looking only to your next step, take a |
| all those whose lives you touch to develop a vision of | | | | moment to think about what's out there up ahead. |
| what can be and the skills to make that vision a | | | | Allow yourself to look to the horizon and recognize |
| reality!" This resonates with me as the core mission | | | | that it is not the next single step that's important, but |
| our clinic-helping families look to the future and the | | | | the combination of many steps that will lead you |
| promise it holds, and learn to do the daily work to | | | | toward it. |
| make that future a reality. I view the journey of life as | | | | |