Okay, so I’m a few days behind, but I’m still working on this. Here are my blindness Gratitude moments for the past few days.
Day 8: I’m grateful for bump dot stickers that help make my microwave accessible. It’s the little things, right?
Day 9: Today I’m grateful for friends that call and offer rides without solicitation. Often, these come at the most needed times (like when it’s raining, or you’re really late) and are like little tender mercies from above.
Day 10: Today we did a lot of back and forth in cars/rides to/from our house to an NFB convention at a local hotel. I’m grateful that my kids are such good passengers and so great at following the little “car loading system” we have.
Day 11: I’m grateful for people who work on access technology and universal design which help make things like websites, computers, and phones accessible for the blind.
Day 12: I’m thankful for a good friend who assisted us with our photo shoot today. We had family pictures taken this weekend, and after a poor experience last year, it was nice to have another set of eyes to help ensure that we get some good pics this year. A future post coming related to this topic.
Day 13: Grateful for friends who see past the blindness and have no concerns about me babysitting their children.
Day 14: Grateful for the long white cane. I attended “American Education Week” today at my daughter’s school. Parents are invited to sit in on their child’s class for the morning and observe. My cane helped me navigate around the classroom confidently without fear of tripping over a little chair or stepping on someone sitting on the carpet during one of their rotation times. Maybe a future post in the making with more on my experience. Also, I’m very grateful for my friend who babysat for me and even gave me a ride and dropped J.J. off at preschool. She’s wonderful!
Day 15: Grateful for the technique of putting bells on my children when they are young. We lost J.J.’s bells this summer on our trip to Disney World, but he’s a lot older now and at an age where he doesn’t really need to wear them. He transitioned out of them right around the time B started needing them, but I haven’t found a good set yet. So, I just use twist-ties and craft bells. These break off often though. . I just put some new ones on B’s shoes and it is so helpful. I’d been managing for a few days without them and have really missed the bells. Now if I could just get him to leave his shoes on!
Day 16: Grateful for friends that are okay with picking up my children for playdates. We did a playdate exchange last week at our house, and today was my son’s turn to go to his friend’s house. Rather than me dropping him off in a lift or uber, my friend volunteered to pick him up and take him back to her house without me even asking. She too is such a wonderful friend that I’ve known for years and totally has no hang ups with the blindness.
