beyond cinderella

That my daughter, Shantel, is blind.

Being the mother of a blind child, for me, has been both the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It has taught me the delicate balance between heartache and joy, pride and humility, fear and confidence, tears and laughter, but most importantly, it constantly teaches me how to give and receive unconditional love.

The sun never sets on a day when I’m not reminded, on many levels, what a life of total blindness is like for Shantel.

I’m reminded every time I see how hard she works to compete in school to keep up, and even move ahead, of her sighted peers.

I’m reminded when I see how her heart breaks when she hears other’s her age talk about driving or getting new cars when she knows she never will.

I’m reminded when I see the hurt on her face when she finds out she didn’t get invited to “the” party or other event others are talking about.

And, no matter how proud I am of Shantel, and all of her accomplishments, I still worry what her life will be like when my husband, Bill, and I are no longer here to help her when she needs us. With most of our other children living out-of-state, I’m reminded how much more I need to do to ensure Shantel can manage completely independent of us….even when doing so sometimes makes her feel like I’m pushing her away.

But, sometimes, I FORGET, that Shantel is blind.

I forget she is blind when I complain about the fabric sheets she drops on the floor when she is folding her laundry. I forget that she can’t see them and they don’t make any noise when they fall to the floor.

I forget she is blind when were driving in the car and I tell her to look at the Coyote that just ran across the road.

I forget she is blind when I ask her why she didn’t wipe the water spots off the mirror after taking her shower.

And just the other night we all had a good laugh when I, once again, forgot Shantel is blind. Here is what happened:

My husband, Bill, leaves for work at 3:00 a.m. every morning so he goes to bed between 6:30 & 7:00 p.m. Shantel always wants to get her towels and things out of the linen closet (located in the master bedroom) before Bill goes to sleep. The other night Bill was in bed but Shantel still needed to get her towels so I told her she needed to hurry up because papa was already in bed with the light on waiting for her to get her towels…without missing a beat, Shantel simply said “well I don’t need the light on”. I could hear Bill laughing his ass off from our bedroom, which made me laugh even harder, which in turn made Shantel fall over laughing about how easy it is for me to forget.

All I can say is, I thank God everyday that sometimes, I do FORGET!

*This is post number 170 for me and I want to take this opportunity to thank all my readers that follow my blog and an extra special thank-you to those who leave comments.

I wish you all a the very best of the New Year!

Stay Tuned!