Random Acts of Blindness

Upon arriving in Mexico later that Tuesday, he noticed some black spots floating in front of his right eye, obscuring his vision. There were also tiny flashes of lights, like when you close your eyes really tight and then open them. Thinking he was just tired from the long flights, a layover, and getting through customs, he shrugged it off. It was just exciting to be in a beautiful and picturesque city in Mexico with several of his coworkers for the week. They had the rest of the day to relax at their elegant hotel, sample lots of Mexican beer and find a good place to eat dinner.

The following morning the guys decided to squeeze in some sightseeing with a quick tour of the beautiful countryside, prior to the scheduled business meeting mid-afternoon. They did make it back in time for the meeting, but just barely! Although the meeting was progressing nicely, Dale was having difficulty focusing on the outline which he'd printed out before he left. He didn't really need to refer to it, so he just winged it and continued on... business as usual. Another balmy evening was spent hanging out with the guys, sampling more Mexican beer and enjoying the 75 degree weather on the hotel balcony.

On Thursday morning, check-out was early so they could drive to the airport, get through customs and catch their flight back home. As the plane took off and made its ascent into the sky, the passengers began doing what we all do on long flights... watch the movie, pull out the laptop, settle into a good book. Dale chose the later. Much to his chagrin, words on the printed page were not only blurry, but wavy and dark as well. Rubbing his eyes and trying to refocus only exacerbated the problem. The flight was going smoothly, but the anxiety he was feeling was mounting by the minute. By mid-flight a black veil started to drop from the outside of his eye. Dale was alone with his thoughts and could no longer ignore what he feared was happening. Not knowing what to do, he closed his eyes and forced the disturbing thoughts back down. A nap was all that was in order.

As the flight neared its destination, the pilot announced the estimated time of arrival. Dale heard the standard announcement over the speakers, "Please pull your seat forward, fasten your seat belt and prepare for a safe landing." As he opened his eyes he was pleasantly surprised to see the overhead lights had been turned on. But as he slowly closed his left eye, the realization was brutal.

In less than three days my sweet husband, my best friend, my favorite photographer, had lost all vision in his right eye. He had randomly gone blind. At that moment, his world was total darkness.

Twenty Years of Oprah and Still Not Prepared

Sometimes it's hard to justify why things happen the way they do. We all want our lives to be perfect and to never be confronted with problems or mishaps. But alas, none of us ever make it through to the end without some misfortune along the way. I guess that's what makes us grow as individuals and keeps our faith strong.

On my last entry I mentioned there had been some not-so-good stuff happening recently and I would fill you in on the details later. Well, it's now later (much later) so I guess it's time for an update. This may also help to explain why I haven't been keeping up with my blog or doing any listings on eBay or Etsy for some time now. The story is a bit long, so I will try to break it up into several entries. The following is "Part One":

The last Tuesday in August my wonderful husband, Dale, was preparing to leave for a business trip to Mexico. After seeing our daughter off to school, we kissed each other goodbye in the kitchen. He was leaving to drive to the airport and I was leaving to go to my weekly art class at the Indianapolis Art Center. When he got back home on Thursday evening, we would have four days together to goof-off and run around before he had to be back to the office the following Tuesday. He'd already scheduled a vacation day for Friday, turning Labor Day into a four day weekend. Although I would miss him, I knew the next few days would zoom by quickly. I had several things scheduled on my calendar, as well as the usual extra long "to do" list hanging around my neck!

The days did fly by for me but I was happy to see him walk through the door on Thursday evening. Just in time to take us to dinner. He filled us in on his trip, describing in detail the beautiful hotel where he stayed. We talked about going there on a vacation sometime so I could paint and he could take photographs. There's a popular artist retreat near where he stayed and many people retire there. When we got home gave me a beautiful cobalt blue bottle of expensive tequila. He knows how I love my margaritas!

After our daughter was in bed he turned to me to say, "Honey, we need to talk"... Boy, don't you just hate to hear those words? We've all heard them before, and it's never good. My heart sank at that moment as a hundred things ran through my mind... he's found someone else, he's lost his job, he's gay, he's dying. I thought twenty years of Oprah had prepared me for just about everything. Fortunately, it was none of the scenarios I'd just played out in my mind. Unfortunately, when he finished his story of what had transpired over the previous three days, you could have knocked me over with a feather!