Interplanetary Coffee Day

If only coffee had been found
on Mars, today,

on National Coffee Day. 

From the desk of

Sister Rain

Blogger

Coffee Lover

Astronaut

MaxTV Glasses

I have these funky-looking glasses I can wear to help me see TV better.  You can adjust each lens individually to compensate for the different needs of both your eyes.
Just wanted to share in the hopes they could help you too.  Google them or ask your eye doctor. 

Loss And Wisdom Found

A person very close to me lost her husband, suddenly, last fall. She is keeping busy, but the loss is immeasurable.

She always decorated her home; all holidays were serious business. She mentioned to me that she wasn't going to get out her Halloween and fall knickknacks. I suggested that she should because that decorating has always been a part of who she is. I went on to say that I know things are so very different, but she can't lose who she is.

The words and the sentiment came out of me organically, but since this was a text conversation, I had the opportunity to revisit it. Upon review, I thought it was great advice, if I said so myself, land based on the way it just popped out of me, I knew it was ingrained. I don't know how or where it came from, but it now lived in me.

I next had to ask myself, do I follow this credo myself? Looking at my life since the loss of my vision, it appears that I do. I still need to figure out some things, but I have worked very hard to do the things I love, no matter how difficult or how different for me now.

Still challenging, still learning, sometimes still struggling, still me.

There Is No Eye In Team

"Brokenness does not exist in the body. 

It exists in the mind, heart and spirit. 

My mind, heart and spirit are whole."

-- Jake Olson

Google him.

Inspiration awaits. 

Wet Bird Wednesday

These Are Two Of My Favorite Things

I had put the tea kettle on the other day to make iced tea, then sat down to read a bit using my Merlin CCTV. After a few minutes, I felt Piper on my foot. He had walked across the floor from where he had been playing with his toys, and climbed onto my sneaker. I reached down and picked him up, and he began to preen himself while perched on my right index finger. Seeing that he was content there, I decided to continue reading.

The Merlin has a movable tray under its monitor. You place your reading material on the tray, then slide the tray as needed to view the rest of a line, page, etc.

My right hand occupied by a comfy little parrot, I began using my left hand to move the tray. The kettle began to whistle, and I said to my husband, "Would you please get that? My hands are full with the two of the things I love most."

#nevertakenforgranted

Go Hawks! . . . I Beg Of You

My husband and I have been married for 23 years. We have had what I hesitate to say (but here I go) is the normal amount of ups and downs. Most recently, in the past three years, we have gone through, and managed to survive, my sudden blindness, the illness and loss of my mom, his sudden serious heart condition and the sudden loss of his dad.

But I don't know if we will make it through this current football season.

I love football too, but as of week 2, my husband's fantasy team and his beloved Seattle Seahawks are 0-2. He has been a 12 since I met him, but with the recent success of the Hawks, expectations are newly high in my household, which means the fall is more dangerous . . . to me. I liked it when the bar was set low, way low.

My even-keeled and super laid-back husband becomes someone else each weekend, and I'm pretty sure I did not marry THIS guy. I remember the richer and poorer part (check) and in sickness and in health (double check), but not through wins and losses.

I can honestly say we have come out the other side of the deaths and our illnesses listed above stronger, but Super Bowl XLIX, held seven months ago, still hangs over our heads like a dark Seattle rain cloud. In this house, February 1st. 2015 is the day the music died. As well as the laughter. And any mention of the New England Patriots. Or Katy Perry.

I wanted to tie this blog post up with a blue and green bow (yes, I have been brainwashed), but after struggling to do so over the last few hours, I finally figured out why I am unable to end this the way I normally would.

BECAUSE THE END TO THiS TORTURE IS FIVE MONTHS AWAY!!!!!

A Love Story - Part 9.5

Today's blog post was to be a continuation of A Love Story, but I'm not feeling a lot of love for a certain little birdie, aka Bitey McBitestein.
The picture shows the bite as a tiny crescent mark, but it really hurts! That spot on my finger was bit a lot when Piper first joined our family. Can you say 'scar tissue'? 
What caused our gentle, sweet boy to return to using his beak for evil? The same thing that causes our ten-year-old nephew to head for ze hills -- bath time. 

To be continued . . .


Previous chapters of 'A Love Story':
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

A Reely Beautiful Moment

My father-in-law passed away suddenly last November. He was an avid fisherman.

Today, my mother-in-law held a garage sale at her house and she had a lot of dad's fishing gear for sale. A potential customer said to my husband, in a casual way, "Someone is giving up fishing". My husband replied, "My dad passed away, so . . ."

The man, who was in his 40s, said, "I'm sorry" and my husband responded, "What can you do?".

The man covered the few steps between them quickly, extending a hand to shake, while seamlessly pulling my husband to him in a man hug, saying "You can do this".

I was the only witness to this exchange, and I feel blessed to have seen it, and grateful to this stranger. I could speculate what caused this man to reach out, both literally and figuratively, but that somehow sullies the moment.

For it was pure. It was profound. And amidst a long driveway full of items for sale, it was priceless.

Comfort In UnCOMFORTable

My closest friends are always so considerate of me and my visual challenges when we are out and about. In planning an upcoming day trip, one friend suggested some things we could do, but wanted to be sure I only did what I was comfortable doing.

My reply to her was that even if I am leery because of my vision situation, about doing something or going somewhere, I do it anyway. It is so true that I have to live my life despite what has happened to my eyesight. Of course there are times when I don't have the mental or physical strength to power through every unsure step or navigate through crowds and I will sit an event out, but I can honestly say that doesn't happen much anymore.

Is it always bittersweet because I can't properly see things like a movie or a theater performance or the ocean? Yes, it is. But I hear the laughter, the shared confidences and feel my friends right there with me, whatever we are doing. And that is the furthest thing from uncomfortable.

Piperazzi

"Can't a guy enjoy his morning coffee on his side porch without being photographed?"

Monday Musings

A great friend of mine is leaving today for vacation. She texted me last night, before bed, and she said, "I am very unprepared for tomorrow."

I replied, "Are we ever prepared for tomorrow?".

Obviously she was referring to packing, but it struck a more philosophical chord. After the passing of my mom, I felt as though life couldn't throw me anything more devastating. I deigned myself ready, willing and able; 'bring it on' my unconscious mantra.

It didn't take 'tomorrow' long to get the last laugh. Five months after Mom's passing, I woke up suddenly blind. No warning.

Of course, 'tomorrow' brings happy things too. Those things we don't need to be prepared for. No battening down the hatches required for the good stuff.

If there is one thing you can do to prepare for tomorrow, it's to surround yourself with people who you love and who love you back and will support you no matter what tomorrow brings. For they, more than anything else, will get you through the hard stuff. As for the joyous things tomorrow brings, make sure those people are there for those things too.

Wherever you are reading this, tomorrow's coming. Pack lightly; bring a friend. 

God Shed His Grace On Thee

If He Thinks He Can Get Out Of Washing Dishes By Being Adorable, He's Right

 

Well that and the fact that he's a bird.

Within A Beloved Rom-Com, A Gem

Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail:

" . . . and missing my mother so much I almost couldn't breathe."

I Take Exception To Acceptance

Someone who I had just met but was a relative of someone I know, recently asked me, "Have you accepted it?".

I was taken aback, and I am NEVER taken aback.

I quickly confirmed the reference was to my vision loss, and then I replied, simply, with the complete opposite of simple behind the word, "No".

I have been asking myself what the true answer to the question is ever since. I looked up the definition of acceptance, and was going to include it here, but changed my mind. This is about what I think acceptance is, not Merriam, not Webster.

My answer should have been this, "I've accepted it because I don't have a choice, but that doesn't make it any easier. If you're lucky, you get better at it."

It isn't important that I didn't know how to answer this person who asked, but it is important that I know how to answer it to myself. And, this time, I wasn't taken aback at all.

A Love Story - Part 9

August 26, 2012

During the two-hour drive home from the bird rescue with our new boy, Piper, already his unique personality began to emerge. If you don't know birds, let me set the record straight about bird brains. Birds are so smart and all have their own diverse personalities. As soon as we placed Piper in his travel carrier and put that securely in the front passenger seat, Piper found his jam. The car hadn't even been started yet, nor the radio, but Piper grabbed hold of some bars and began "dancing" by rocking side-to-side, at a speed we found impossible to imitate.

My husband drove and I sat in the back so that I could watch Piper. He seemed to love being in the car, and I kept wondering what he was thinking and how many times in his six years of life he had been loaded up and driven to a new home. I thought to myself, "That stops now".

Piper danced and looked out the window the entire way home. We talked to him throughout, getting him used to our voices, and trying to offer comfort, although all signs pointed to an anxiety-free Piper. Normally when you bring a new bird home, experts recommend that you put the bird in its mansion (aka cage), but when I mentioned this to the woman at the rescue, she said with Piper's disposition that wouldn't be necessary.

We pulled into our garage. This was it. For the first time in five years, we had a little feathered guy who we had begun to think of as our child a mere six days ago, when I had called the rescue to say we would love to adopt Piper and the rescued instantly gave their blessing.

We took Piper into the house, and opened the travel carrier. He climbed up my arm to my shoulder. He was looking around but seemed completely unworried. We got him fresh water and I stood next to  his mansion and he climbed onto it. Less than 24 hours before, the mansion was in a flat box, in pieces, in the back of my car, along with all the food and toys we had bought. And now, the new little man in our lives was in residence, checking things out.

My husband and I sat watching him and would tear our eyes away from him every so often to look at each other. We didn't say anything to each other, but talked soothingly to Piper as he began to eat. Both of us were thinking about the five years since our cockatiel, Cato, had passed away after 15 years with us. We were also thinking about the 25 days between seeing Piper online to bringing him home.

Once again, we were three.

To be continued . . .


Previous chapters of 'A Love Story':
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Sister Rain Jeopardy

Today I stepped onto an up escalator, and then I stepped off it at the top. All by myself. For the first time in almost three years.

Today I located the "thinking of you" greeting cards and then I was able to find the perfect card that I needed. All by myself. For the first time in almost three years.

What are little things that are huge?

Cue Creepy Music

Tomorrow we have nine stops to make as we run our errands. Since I can no longer drive, groceries and drug store and what-not runs no longer get done during lunch hours or on my way home.

Nine errands. Lots of miles. Frequent yelling about his driving. Several hours. Much to pick-up and/or purchase. One old married couple.

The calendar says September, but this sounds like the scariest horror movie ever. All that's missing is flying monkeys.

That reminds me, we need bananas.

Bird(en Of) Poop

If only they made this stuff for humans! 

You think someone is full of poop? Spray them.

Your day turns into a poop show? Spray yourself.

For fellow parronts, if you haven't tried Poop-Off, fly to your favorite bird supply store or put your zygodactyls to work and order online. This is a MUST-HAVE if you share your nest with a feathered friend. 

Our Future Past Today

Today, all I can think about is my career before my vision loss. I am remembering every travel delay, every early morning breakfast at the airport, every client, every city, every hotel room, every general session ballroom, every off-site dinner, every team I managed.

I know I can never return to that; too much has happened. But today, the lump in my throat and the aching waves in my chest won't go away. Today, they come with the memories.

Today, I wonder - if we could see our future in the same way that we can see our past, what would our present look like?

Keep Your Technology Close And Your Friends Closer

Two of my closest friends work at a company I also worked for for 12 years. They both have cell phones issued by the company, and cars with built-in Bluetooth. A few months ago, I began receiving this message from them sometimes when I texted them:

[Auto-Reply] I'm driving right now - I"ll get back to you later.

I love both of these women and realize these are work phones. But COME ON!! I understand there will be times they can't immediately respond to my texts. Quite frankly, we're so close that I probably know what they're doing and why they aren't replying within their usual timeframe. 

What's next? The word "driving" can be replaced by all sorts of words:  sleeping, eating, reading, working out, cleaning, watching TV, indisposed, gettin' busy with my boo, blogging.

Wait!!! Isn't this Tweeting???

I LOVE me some technology, but this development has really given me pause. I can now see, in the not too distant future, my iPhone sending this text:

[Auto-Reply] I'm picking out my robot right now - I'll get back to you later.

And, for the first time:

[Auto-Reply] I'm scared right now - I'll get back to you later.