Cameras are everywhere these days. Everyone’s phones, traffic, web, surveillance, security and elevator cams capture our every move. Big Brother is watching . . . but so are the actual people in the footage with us. Much like a child we try so hard not to swear in front of, we are all sponges, taking in what others say and do.
My husband was recently telling his hair stylist (I offered to change this to barber but he assured me his virility can handle the truth) about some upcoming trips and events he and I are planning, as well as some impending trouble my girlfriends and I will be getting into. His coiffeur (he’s probably reconsidering “barber” right now) said, “She hasn’t let it (the vision loss) slow her down.”
He shared this with me when he got home. I was touched and it made proud, something I typically don’t allow. It has been a long, dark road to get here, something I am as equally forthright about when I tell my story as I am about my everyday goings on. And I will also disclose in these conversations that it’s still difficult to live like this. But that’s what I’m doing, playing the hand I’ve been dealt, showing up at the table. We all are and others are observing us. Not in a stalking manner, although there is Scary Guy who lives a few blocks over that I avoid when I walk for exercise, but in an osmosis way. Without even realizing it, we still, as adults, draw from others, storing away their actions and behaviors. That is, until we need them, then they come to the forefront of our minds. None of us should underestimate the impact we can have on someone else. How we live our life may very well influence how another lives their own.
I may never know why I woke up blind without warning. And honestly I’d prefer to have my sight back. But if one person sees me getting out there when I can’t see and remembers that and keeps going themselves when life gets hard, that is not a bad legasee. What will yours be?
