I have always loved pop culture and read People magazine for as long as I can remember When I initially lost my sight, I was cut off from my phone, the internet, Twitter, pretty much the entire world except family and friends and medical professionals.

Then as I learned more about the technology available to people with low vision, my world was opened up again. I’m not back 100% to where I was before my optic nerves became damaged, but I am back to being up on all the news from the entertainment industry.

As I have mentioned before, I am once again able to read books using a Merlin CCTV but magazines don’t work as well with that piece of equipment. However, reading magazines through the iPad is a dream come true. With the digital issue, I can enlarge the font and pictures to a size that I am able to see. I don’t see colors very well in person or on TV but on the iPad I can see almost all colors! This is going to sound crazy but I even love seeing all the ads. After not having them for almost two years it made me so happy! It was one more way of getting back into the groove of the world outside my life that had changed so suddenly and so traumatically.

I’m including a picture to show you how large I can make the magazine. If your vision requires some help, I totally recommend getting your magazines digitally. I buy the subscription through iTunes and it’s super easy to download from there through the Newsstand app that’s is loaded on the iPad when you purchase it.

Whether it’s sports or fashion or entertainment, getting back to what you love is getting back to you. And that’s something we all deserve. It must be true because I read it in People. 

There is no doubt about it, the weekend blizzard was large and in charge. The coverage was everywhere and I’m going to admit it, we were riveted to the local TV coverage as well as The Weather Channel. Social media reporting was not to be left behind and there was an abundance of articles and images documenting the storm. In my mind, none more affecting than this Tweet:

I always have a daily To Do List, and being the Type A, anal retentive nutball that I am, I even include the fun things I want to do, for example, reading. I work through the list methodically and I’ve realized something: I am Pavlov’s dog!

I workout. Then I read a book for a bit. 
I write and publish a blog post. Then I have lunch. 
I do a load of wash. Then I watch some Housewives on TV. 

Some may call this discipline. I’m pretty sure I’m insane. You’d think so too if you had seen me last night after I washed dishes, pacing in front of the cookie jar, waiting for a treat.

Binge watching the latest season of The Amazing Race with my husband, playing along, strategizing (who would eat the roasted cockroach? him, who would do the puzzles? me, who would bungee jump? him – I don’t like the recoil effect, who would dance? me), one thing is clear:

The innocence of youth is really something to behold. Our 10-year-old nephew has been converted to a Seahawks fan by my husband. Yesterday we all were majorly disappointed that our team’s season is over but our nephew took it the hardest.

He became very quiet and I could tell that it hurt him in a way that was different than what we adults were experiencing. Watching him, I tried to remember when this kind of letdown seemed like the end of the world. When even the small things were of great importance and the only expected result was a good one, and when a bad outcome was devastating.

Even though the troubles of our youth pale in comparison to our grown-up problems, back then those issues pained us just as deeply. We didn’t have the coping skills we hopefully have as adults and our world was so much smaller then so all parts of our life were huge and significant to us.

But oh the resilience. The ability to bounce back quickly and move on to the next thing. We were learning lessons, life lessons, back then but we didn’t even know it. There was no paralysis by analysis, nothing had to be dissected and re-imagined every which way but loose.

Today my nephew is off from school and is skiing with a friend. He is no doubt having the time of his life, making run after run down the mountain. His uncle and I, however, are playing Monday morning playoff quarterback even though it’s afternoon.

We will bounce back too. But with us, bones will be creaking, we will grimace, we will be sore for a few days, we may even have a scar. And instead of getting back on the ski lift, we will go into the lodge for a hot toddy to help nurse our wounds and watch a little TV.

No doubt ESPN will be showing the game . . .