Monday, January 01, 2007
The blind man sledding
I recently saw an ad for a person's blinds/shutters store called THE BLIND MAN and thought that was pretty clever. It was the 29th of December, just a couple days ago and we got hit with the biggest storm ever on record here in Albuquerque. Pretty devastating, the governor called it the biggest ever, so we feel lucky to receive it at Christmastime. Especially with 2 aunts here to play in the snow with us! It was New Year's Eve, and all four of us had gone out to the sledding hill at Quintessence Park up the street, where we have all been sledding for days now. Actually this is the second BIG storm to hit in the last 10 days. Just amazing. The sledding was an absolute blast, and it has been quite some time since we have even been sledding for I do not remember doing any last season since it hardly snowed 2 inches all winter long. Many families we know nearby were there – the Reynolds, the Quirings, the Highs, the Spahns, the Pruitts from carpool, the Smiths and the Bolings from MOMS club.
I was at the top of the sledding path when, I heard a gentleman say he bet I could see where I was going better than he. I asked why and he told me he was blind. I said "No kidding?," and he replied affirmatively. He took off his glasses, and showed us how thick they are. Wow, he has got guts to sled where he cannot see. He said he can see very vaguely - shapes and generalities. So we continued sledding and once down there at the bottom I playfully tossed a snowball at Matty sitting nearby me, who had just stepped off the innertube, after coming down. William the blind man yelled to me that I threw a snowball at Matt, and I replied that he was not so blind after all, was he?! Of course my voice was light, I was showing him no offense, I was trying to make him laugh. I could tell from his demeanor that he was a very happy and fun loving person. So he came closer and replied that he is, but he has better hearing than any of us – he heard the snowball. Now I didn't know how he knew I threw it at Matty, maybe he had good enough sight to see that. He said to prove his point, "I will show you. I hear birds singing now. Do you hear that?" and I replied "No." He was right, just as I have always heard, (so to speak!!), that blind people have better senses to compensate.
I was at the top of the sledding path when, I heard a gentleman say he bet I could see where I was going better than he. I asked why and he told me he was blind. I said "No kidding?," and he replied affirmatively. He took off his glasses, and showed us how thick they are. Wow, he has got guts to sled where he cannot see. He said he can see very vaguely - shapes and generalities. So we continued sledding and once down there at the bottom I playfully tossed a snowball at Matty sitting nearby me, who had just stepped off the innertube, after coming down. William the blind man yelled to me that I threw a snowball at Matt, and I replied that he was not so blind after all, was he?! Of course my voice was light, I was showing him no offense, I was trying to make him laugh. I could tell from his demeanor that he was a very happy and fun loving person. So he came closer and replied that he is, but he has better hearing than any of us – he heard the snowball. Now I didn't know how he knew I threw it at Matty, maybe he had good enough sight to see that. He said to prove his point, "I will show you. I hear birds singing now. Do you hear that?" and I replied "No." He was right, just as I have always heard, (so to speak!!), that blind people have better senses to compensate.
