And we visited this fella .... (Isn't he adorable??)
We had a great time visiting friends and experiencing life with them. From watching baseball games to celebrating a milestone birthday & everything in-between, we were on the go all the time. The weather was delightful and an antidote to the 2 feet of snow we had before the trip and the 8" of snow we had one week after we got back. I'm pretty sure the snow is now over for the season ...but didn't I say that 3 weeks ago?
On the first and last days of our trip, I had two vision related encounters. I've thought about those two encounters - wondering what I could learn from them.
On our first night, we went to a very busy Tex-Mex restaurant (I do love me some chips & salsa, most definitely my biggest food weakness!) My son and I went to make a purchase at the front of the restaurant. The hostess was young, friendly & pleasant - and I caught a glimpse of her eye. It was an oh-so-familiar sight....a patch graft on the lower outer quadrant of her eye. I wanted to so give her a hug, encourage her and let her know I knew what she had gone through. But the restaurant was noisy and busy - she was scurrying about, taking care of her customers. She was LIVING the LIFE she was set out to do - and her eye, or the way it looked, was not going to stop her!
On our last day, we were shopping at an indoor mall and we needed to get to the lower level. Although we searched for an escalator, an elevator was nearby. As we waited, almost out of nowhere appeared a lady probably in her 60s or 70s - pushing a stroller that I assumed held her grandchild. We exchanged pleasantries, talking of elevators vs. escalators and strollers. She mentioned she was visually impaired - blind - and taking a stroller on an escalator was a little bit much for her. She spoke of living in the Midwest before she moved south and how her vision instructor taught her how to ride the escalator with her disability. I remember thinking how she didn't look vision impaired and her attitude was absolutely fantastic. I wanted to give her a hug, encourage her and let her know I admired her, but the door opened and she scurried away to meet up with her party. Despite her vision disability, she was LIVING LIFE. Her lack of sight of was not going to stop her!
So the lesson I have taken away from these encounters???
Regardless of where we are in our years of age, or how our eye looks, or our stage of ICE, or any impairment we might have....we LIVE our life. We don't freeze, we don't despair. We may have to adjust things a bit at times - a change in vocation, a change in location, a new way of doing things - but we continue to LIVE. We embrace what we are given and keep on moving. This is a life lesson.
While I have been practicing to LIVE....THIS day, THIS moment - I always welcome the reminders - and these spring break encounters do just that.
Live THIS day my friends!
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