Driving around Salt Lake City recently, even with my lack of much sight I was able to recognize an area of the city from a business trip I had taken back in 2002, ten years before I woke up blind. Passing a Marriott with a long driveway and several flagpoles by its entrance, I asked Mister Rain to pull in. This was, indeed, the site of a large national meeting I had helped plan and manage.
“Wanna go inside? I wouldn’t mind seeing it,” Mister Rain asked.
“Yeah, I think I do,” I replied. There was no hesitation in my response, but there was a flip-flop in my chest.
As we walked the property, I pointed out different things that I remembered. There was a tent on the grassy area in the back of the hotel, just like the one where an awards banquet had been held one night all those years ago.
No events were taking place so we did a lap where the meeting spaces are located. My husband stuck his head in a small empty amphitheater, telling me what it was.
“Oh my gosh. I did a presentation in there. I remember what I was wearing and what my intro slide looked like. It was an iceberg, showing that you may only see what’s above the surface while there’s twice as much going on below.”
Mister Rain is used to my somewhat unusual memory, yet he stopped, turned and stared at me.
Returning to our rental car, before backing out of the parking spot, my husband, knowing me as he does, questioned, “You okay?”
It was a long time ago, but I Loved my job as a corporate meeting manager. Although I have (for the most part) forgiven the universe for my vision loss and subsequent loss of my profession, I will never forget.
A few days later, on our last night before flying home, we ate dinner at a PF Changs in Salt Lake City. Twenty-four years ago, on another last night before flying home, 12 colleagues and I ate here (click here for These Are A Few Of My Favorite First Things). At the time, the popular restaurant chain we know today only had locations out west. When I came home from the trip, I raved about my new find to Mister Rain.
Time moves on, and so do we. We have to. I don’t live in the past but I do carry it with me. I think that when we lose something through no choice of our own it can be, on occasion, a little heavier than the rest, even when we have long-since adapted to the extra weight.
I believe, though, that everything that made me a good meeting manager has helped me to adapt to a new life with just a little sight. And maybe more importantly, my career gave me Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Crispy Honey Chicken from PF Changs.
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