I used to make over 1,000 cookies each year, giving them as holiday gifts. After my vision loss, it became very difficult to tell if the cookies were done in the oven. My husband would be glad to help, but he is color blind and struggles with the same issue,…
Nearing the entrance to the parking garage after a football game, a man stood holding the door for my husband and me. “Thank you,” I said, as we had almost reached him. “Is she really blind?,” he asked, obviously speaking to Mister Rain. I never looked up from the end…
When my husband was proofing my story to be published the next day as he does everyday (typos can easily pass by my limited vision), he noticed that the hashtag “legallyblind” actually read “legallybiind.” He immediately told me, causing my stomach to drop. I copy my hashtags over from a…
Did you know that those of us who are blind but have some degree of sight (we may be able to perceive light, shapes or shadows) use white canes with red reflective tape at the bottom? The red color close to the ground can be helpful to the user for…
During Wreaths Across America Day, my husband and I walked down a row of graves towards the macadam at Arlington National Cemetery to head to our car. I had my trusty trekking poles, but it was still slow-going for me in the uneven, hilly Section 33. As we got closer…
I have checked into many a hotel in my day, especially when I was a corporate meeting manager. I know the drill and always approach the front desk with my photo ID in hand. During a recent hotel stay, leaving our luggage with my husband, I said I would go…
As I waited for a video appointment to begin, I noticed the small miscellaneous pile I had set on the desk in preparation for an upcoming trip. I was happy to see that a small tube of hand cream was one of the items, my hands were already dry in…
There is a phenomenon that occurs occasionally when I am in a car during the day. If I close my eyes for a bit then open them, I am sometimes startled that I cannot properly see. Is the windshield dirty? Do my eyes just need to adjust? I will blink…
The holiday season has a way of magnifying things, joy feels, well, more joyous, and sorrow (you know what’s coming), more sorrowful. Wrapping gifts one afternoon, I was faced with both sides of the ornament. First, while finishing up two gifts for a girlfriend, I could not find the Scotch…
I have never worn flip flops and with good reason, the same reason I don’t iron clothes: I am terrible at it. My inability to walk in flip flops has only increased since my vision loss. The sole time I wear them is when I get a pedicure. Keeping my…
