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September 25, 2023, 12:04 am Advertisments

On The Buses

Meet The Neighbours

Meet MIKI DAWSON, and now say goodbye to her.

Normally in our MEET THE NEIGHBOURS section we cast the spotlight on someone who has recently moved to the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Now for something completely different.

Caleb & Mom Miki

For years I used to see MIKI walking everywhere in White Rock with a young boy who Assumed was her son. I was right. What always struck me was what beautiful big smiles they both had every time I would pass them on the street or see them in one of the many businesses they frequented in White Rock.

After many years I got to know MIKI personally and began to understand her long and storied journey of life as a single Mom raising her son and conquering daily hurdles put in front of her. I gained a tremendous respect for single mothers by meeting and getting to know MIKI.

When I learned my dear friend MIKI was relocating back to Ontario, knowing how much she loved living in White Rock, I asked her to compose a "love letter" to White Rock.

 

White Rock - A Love Story

As I descended the Victoria steps, from the moment your waters spread out into my view, I knew you would be home for me and my son.  I had to leave my marriage so our relationship could begin.  I believed when I became ashes to spread, they would blow over your blue on a breeze and the wings of the birds.  

White Rock, you helped me raise a little boy.  With every tidal pool, shooting star, skipping stone, walk, starfish, fishing adventure off the pier, and ice cream cone, we gave my son his wonder years.  You will always be the sunshine of his childhood story.  

Being a single mom was hard.  I didn’t have enough money for a vehicle and some days I didn’t eat.  You gave me friends who would invite me out for dinner, who gave me work, food, a break, a ride, companionship and a reason.  

Those initial days, I felt broken at times.  I’d cry at your shoreline and you’d take those tears and let them dance like twinkling stars under the moonlight.

In the beginning, there was an empty tummy, bruises that wouldn’t heal, and a heart that had broken too many times.  If I was still, I saw my reflection in your waters and I saw she was strong and kind through all the beatings and losses.  You knew me before I discovered my courage and strength.  You knew love would win.  

You gave me dancing, friendships and fun within the friendly walls of the Sandpiper.  I’ll always go to The WAG where I love visiting with the staff as much as I enjoy a meal with a friend.  I lived along Cosmic Alley where the view from my front window was a horizon of possibilities and beauty.  I will always go back to places like WRBB and the Beer Shack where good people were as abundant as the beer running through the taps.   

When my boy was no longer little, you gave me a man to love.  We built a beautiful life together.  I got to know the community in a new way with someone who became my best friend.  

White Rock, thank you for everyone and everything you’ve given me over these past 18 years.  When I am ashes, I hope part of me is spread over Semiahmoo Bay where I feel your embrace to this day.   I’ve moved, but I haven’t left you.  For the people you gave me to love, the deepest gratitude; I carry them in my heart wherever I go.  

Thank you, White Rock!  

Love,

Miki Dawson

 

P.S. Editors Note

What is the latest chapter now of Miki and her son Caleb?

Caleb now lives on the Prairies and would make the journey to spend part of his summer every summer with Mom in White Rock.

Again I have to admit I have seen first hand the beautiful connection these two wonderful humans have. So much more than than the usual mother and son relationship.

We are so much richer as a community to have had MIKI DAWSON for the time we did.

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