All my poems, etc., part 2

If you are coming to this late, and seeing a lot of things that I call Facebook Poems, there is a reason/excuse. About mid-June, I hadn't posted anything anywhere, nor texted anyone, and I don't like to talk on the phone ... so I decided that, when I can, which is almost every day unless the internet is down or I am out of town and do not have access, that one of the first times I'll do each day is write something - usually a poem - on Facebook. I label it simply "Facebook poems", though they cover a lot of subjects. I am labeling THIS note with all the labels I have used. That way, if you click on some label/subject that you think you might find interesting, everything I've labeled as such will show up on this blog. Thanks for reading what I write. I hope that you get a smile, or a laugh, or some encouragement, or that they make you think, etc. Feel free to comment on things I write, too. Thanks. (I am having to post this twice so as to show all the labels that I've made!)

I was accused of LYING!!!

Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it isn't there..

I posted the following on my Facebook page, but think it might be of interest here.

Two days ago, when a friend and I went to a local drug store to get our flu shots, a stranger accused me of lying!

My good friend and I were seated, waiting our turn, and were filling out some papers. A man came over and sat down next to me. He noticed my long white cane, then said, "I KNOW you are not blind. I saw you walk into the store, and walk around as good as the other lady, and fill out some papers".

At least he knew what my cane signified, but I DID have to explain that a person does not have to be totally blind to be legally blind. I explained that I became legally blind 9 years ago this month, and told him about what usable sight I have (good usable sight in one eye, but only straight ahead, no depth perception and almost no peripheral sight), plus the fact that over the years, I've learned to compensate. Hopefully he believed my explanation, which was of course true. I wouldn't know the man again.

I'm sure that Molly C. Corum, Lee Ann Brooks, and a few other of my friends have had similar comments once in awhile though I know I have more usable sight than they have. And Charlotte and Ken Osbourn live alone, and sometimes keep their grandson.

 

Molly is early 60s, retired, is a 4^th generation Floridian and lives in Tampa. I didn’t know her when I lived in Tampa. She has Usher's Syndrome. a hereditary problem that over the years causes both blindness and deafness. She still has a good bit of usable sight but, like me, does have to rely on a long white cane. Without her cochlear implants, she is totally deaf now. We met at the national convention of the Hearing Loss Association of American last June when it was in Providence, RI.

Lee Ann is about 50 and is almost totally blind, due to birth problems caused by Rh blood incompatibility. The doctor thought she'd be deaf, blind, and mentally retarded. She has her master's degree and works full time as a councilor here in Birmingham with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services. She wasn't my councilor, but became a friend.

Charlotte and Ken have been married almost 40 years. They both were born totally blind due to having been premature. They met at the Alabama School for the blind in Talladega. They live in Irondale (a suburb of Birmingham). They have 3 daughters, all fully sighted. Ken is the current president of the local chapter of the American Council of the Blind, and is also state prez. He has worked in radio and TV all his life, mostly voice-overs, some locally, some nationally.

Molly, Lee Ann, and Charlotte all commented on what I wrote, as did Cheree and Sandy, friends of mine who both who are fully sighted. 

JUNK!

Food, that is! Sometimes, even on a limited income (which I'll be in a few more days), y' just gotta have some! (My other vices are yarn and music!) I'm almost out of my drink of choice (diet Dr Pepper), and didn't feel like standing at the bus stop in this wind (high temperature's 54 today but the wind is cold - yeah, yeah, to all you Yankees what's 54 degrees!) and going to Wally World. Round trip for THAT, by fixed route bus, would have been about 2 hours, even though WM is only about 6 miles away.

So I braved it and walked across the busy street at the end of the block, over to Family Dollar. At first I was just going in my slacks and long-sleeved T-shirt, etc., and amber-lens polarized sun glasses (a necessity because of my sight), but after walking to the curb, came back in, added gloves, an ear-warmer (I crocheted it by copying a friend's old, old one - I'll eventually post a picture of it), and a light-weight jacket.

I mostly bought some sunflower seeds (which I'll put out for the birds) and some cashews (I love 'em!), and, since FD doesn't have DP, I bought a 2 liter diet Coca Cola. (Why, when we in the USA, do not use the metric system, are drinks bottled metrically?) I also bought 2 cans of Pingles' chips, and a few other things (some necessary, some not).

I admit that it takes me 10+ minutes to walk the equivalent of about 1 city block (FD is in an almost vacant strip shopping center with a BIG parking lot). Of course hat includes looking to my left, looking to my right, looking to my left ... starting across the street, backing up when a car flies my way, starting over, getting part of the way across, ad nauseum! ... Before I was good out the FD door to come home, I heard someone walking behind me, and spoke. Luckily, it was a lady who'd also just come out of FD. Then on more or less level ground, I stumbled. The lady offered me a ride. I explained that I hadn't spoken to try to get a ride, and she said she realized that. Still, she brought me home.

I rarely carry cash with me, so all I could offer her was: "Thank you so much. God bless you".

A Guide Dog and the World Trade Centers

I am a member of the American Council of the Blind, one of 2 major advocacy groups for the blind in the USA. I've attended only one national convention, in Jacksonville, Florida a few years ago. One of the speakers was Michael Hingson. He and Roselle were on the 78th floor of the first tower that was hit on 9/11/01. Roselle, from Guide Dogs of America in San Rafael, California, helped Michael and several others to the street. Amazing! You can read their story on several on-line sites. Several years ago, a friend and I rode Amtrak to Emeryville (near Oakland), California, to visit kin who lived near there. While there, I got to visit the guide dog school in San Rafael. While I hope to never need a guide dog (and even with a good bit of usable sight, I qualify for one), it's good to know that I can get one - and know that their training is such as what Roselle did. God bless the USA.

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon

Minnie Pearl once said that as she walked down the side walk, she overheard some men behind her, whispering. "They said, 'Would you look at that lady! She looks like the breath of Spring!' Well ... actually what they said was, 'Boy! Don't that gal look like the end of a long hard winter' ..." So here's a head start for Halloween, or for your dart board! (I can make fun of myself, but YOU had better not!) My left eye is almost totally blind, and goes its own way. These are "self-pictures". I made them this afternoon, by holding the camera at arms length ... I guess you can say, "At the end of a long hot summer" ...

EYEs

In yesterday's paper, as usual, was a lot of ads and coupons. To let you know a little bit of how I see, I'll give 2 examples.

Evidently, there is a "good" spot about in the center of my right retina, which is why I can again see fairly well with that eye. But maybe because it is so small, I have to be looking right at something to actually see it. I lack such peripheral vision that I can't even see a billboard on the side of the road unless I'm looking right at it!

I've had maybe 36 months of piano lessons, between early grammar school, and my last semester of junior college. Because of my eyesight, if, at worship, we sing a song that's new to me, I can get either the words - or the notes - correct. Even though the words and the music are no more than 1/2" apart (usually less), I cannot see both at the same time.

As to the ad in the paper ... and I even got a chuckle out of this ... it was was for Tide. I read the blurb as "pain relief" (say huh?). I saw "ain" and "relie", maybe because of the mood I'm in (not good today).

The ad said: "stain release".

VISION

Mother doesn't like her picture to be shown anywhere, but I had no luck cropping this. Since I wrote about the white cane, the universal symbol that the bearer either does not see or is legally blind, here's the only picture I have of myself with the cane. This was made last October. Mother is 92 and still mentally pretty sharp. I am 5'3" and was leaning over to be closer to Mother. Her hair is almost glow-in-the-dark white!

LADY WITH THE LONG WHITE CANE

LADY with the LONG WHITE CANE (Freedom Cane) is somewhat my "signature" poem. It has pretty much been around the world and read and used in various places. For awhile I was almost totally blind, but thanks to God and good doctors, I again have a good bit of usable sight. I resisted getting O&M training (O&M: orientation & mobility, i.e: white cane navigation) through state voc rehab, but finally relented. I had been put in touch with a lady about my age, who had resisted a cane at first though now has a dog guide. Early 2004, Carol said, in a brainstorming session to which she invited me to participate at Lakeshore (http://www.lakeshore.org/), that once she agreed to a white cane, that she felt free, that the cane allowed her to safely go more places than she could otherwise.

Who's that coming down the walk?
It's a lady with a long white cane.
She could stay in and feel sorry for herself,
But independence is her "game"!
She might stumble when she walks, but at least she walks,
A bit unsteady, but she won't fall.
She's liberated by that cane that she swings in front.
In her mind, she walks proud and tall!
Someone blind with no cane might stumble and fall.
"There's a stupid drunk" is what you might say.
But someone blind with a cane for all the world to see
Says, "This cane gives me freedom every day!"
So if you're newly blind, and don't want any aids -
You'd rather folks think you are drunk or lame,
Just listen to me 'cause I've been "where you are".
I am the lady with the long white cane.

- by Netagene, in 30 minutes on April 1, 2004 -