Tuesday, April 21, 2009

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.  



7 comments:

Katy said...

I'm so happy that you found someone you can talk to.

diane said...

I'm glad you had a good talk. And I totally want a chihuahua service animal except I don't have an impairment. Cruel world!

Eric said...

I'm all the "service animal" Renee needs.

Sarah Beau Bera said...

You make me laugh at inappropriate things like "(in the traditional sense of the word (meaning we don't shake our head back and forth when we play soul piano))". I now rank your humor with that of Seth MacFarlane who also makes me laugh and inappropriate things. I hope you find this ranking complimentary. And I hope you find more people like Cute Hair lady.

brett and carly said...

Hello! I'm glad you found my blog. :) Your family is beautiful! I'm loving your blog, and like the other comments, I'm really glad you found somebody you could connect with.

Kristin said...

That's great that you found someone who understands - we can all feel for you, but it just isn't the same, I'm sure. If Mia or Nigel would behave better, I would totally train them to be a guide for you, but unless you just want everlasting licking, you're out of luck!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update, Renee. I think about what you're going through a lot and it's good to know that acceptance is inevitably part of the process. And probably making some lifelong friends is, too!