Unalone

Before Saturday night, my complete knowledge of people with Retinitis Pigmentosa was that they wrote hilarious comments, and they named their kids after Beatles.  Thanks to a little bit of matchmaking on the part of my favorite Turkey-makers, Jason and Matt, I now know RP can be expanded to include people with cute hair and an amazing ability to make my whole attitude about dealing with... all this... just a little bit easier.  

I definitely don't feel as alone in this as I did before Saturday night.  You mean I'm not the only one who was afraid of dark staircases for reasons beyond ghosts?  I'm not alone in being accused of "faking" impairment?  Someone else gets that I want to train a chihuahua to be my guide dog?  I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!  

We talked about how it feels weird to try to be a part of the blind community, when we don't feel blind (in the traditional sense of the word (meaning we don't shake our head back and forth when we play soul piano)).  She made me feel totally okay about Denial and Depression and upcoming Anger (it's inevitable) and, at some point, Acceptance (also inevitable).  The fact that she is a disability counselor helped, I'm sure, but more than that, she was just exactly the right person to talk to about how I'm feeling at exactly this point in my life, because she's been there, and because she's fantastic.   

A year ago I would probably not have attended this party, because of my anxiety about parties, because of the eye disease I didn't know I had, that made parties with darkness and crowds the scariest thing ever.  So the idea that I could actually grow as a person as a result of going this particular night is just kind of...  cool.