Happiness...is being able to see

Happiness...is being able to see
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom

orginal photo

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” Helen Keller

December 1, 2008, New York City:

Seeing, Into The Future

Happiness is being able to see.

Even Helen Keller—who was both blind and deaf for most of her life, yet went on to become one of the most inspirational and accomplished figures of our time—wrote “Of all the senses, sight must be the most delightful.”

Yet, as the ancient adage goes, often we don’t realize the value of something until we have it taken away.

Thus, two days after Thanksgiving, I was reminded of how lucky I am to have vision, after my eyesight was temporarily taken away from me.

It was a Saturday morning and I had woken up, just like any other day. After a cup of coffee and some photo editing, I decided to get some exercise.

Thus, I decided to take the boys for a ride in the park, while I ran alongside them.

After putting on my clothes, I went into the bathroom and exchanged my eyeglasses for my contact lenses.

I put one in, but it was unusually blurry. So I took it out, rubbed some more saline solution in and put it back in. Alas, this did not fix the problem.

As it had always been the weaker of the two, I figured that my left eye was having, hopefully, a minor—and only temporary—adjustment problem (i.e. I didn’t have enough coffee). Thus, I took the contact out again and placed in my better, right, eye.

Alas, this didn’t seem to fix the problem, as my vision still remained blurry. Needless to say, a bit of confusion ensued.

And so, after putting in the second contact lens, I decided that I would deal with this after the run, hoping that somehow, along the way, it would all clear up.

I didn’t think about it too much while running, as I was much more concerned by my hard breathing and heavy legs.

However, by the time we had made it around the park, I had an epiphany…

Could it have been that my ex had taken my contacts and somehow placed hers in the case I was using? It seemed like a strange exchange theory, but I was eager to get home and ask her if she felt as if she had “Supervision” all of the sudden.

Upon my arrival I immediately asked her without thinking…for if only I had taken a moment to assess the situation again, I would have realized that it was unlikely that she done anything that morning, as she was still wearing her eyeglasses.

Of course, this only got me in trouble, because when we checked, we discovered that I had opened the wrong contact case.

Apparently, we had both placed them in the same place the night before in the cabinet under the sink. Thus, I had simply reached under and grabbed the case that I assumed was mine. Oops.

Nonetheless and allthemore, I was ecstatic to have my vision back, and to regain the confidence that I wasn’t just suddenly going blind.

Silly as it may sound, having just celebrated my 41st birthday, I am aware that I’ve now essentially reached the top of the hill and that I must face reality, accept the inevitable and prepare for the latter half of my journey.

Now that I’ve made all my mistakes and have much experience to bank on, I’d like to think I am entering the most exciting half of my life.

However, I am also aware that along with the wisdom, comes the price we pay for all good times we had making all those mistakes we made earlier on in life.


"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve