Day 7- Finding the beauty in what you can't see

My big sister and I

I have always loved bright lights, rounded shapes, and  bright colors make me happy.
I guess I should say that what I saw without my glasses as a child,  was just of light and dark, fuzzy colors and fuzzy blobs, no real defined shapes...  With my glasses on, there were more defined shapes, but things were always fuzzy, never crisp or clear.

We went to New Mexico and the giant rock formations looked like castles, and the giant cavern at Carlsbad could have been ballrooms or giant libraries or maybe a large dining hall...The beautiful and mysterious...full of hidden rooms and dim lights and echoes. I was enamored, all of  America is gorgeous, but to me, New Mexico holds a place in my heart.

Monahans, Texas

As a kid, my family traveled a lot. I didn't realize how much until I had kids of my own. I didn't know just how hard it is to travel. Having kids and traveling is tough on its own, but  having a kid with  low vision is tougher. I can't imagine how my parents did it, dragging around a kid that was 'lost' most of the time. I did actually get lost a couple of times. Technically, left behind a couple of times...
I probably do need therapy.

So we traveled all over, visiting family, going to reunions, visiting landmarks, camping, amusement parks, all those fun things you do when you are kids. My father was an angel, he put up with a car full of women all alone after my brothers were old enough to leave home. 

Mom and my sister in New Mexico,  I think this was Holy Ghost, NM

When I was young, I didn't know I was different, I was adventuresome, loved to climb rocks, play in the water, run like the wind, and be a kid. Every chance I got, I did all those things. I was only limited as to how far away I could get without my mother finding me or how far my sister would let me tag along.  I was never really frightened about getting lost,even after being left behind.
Some of our vacations stand out for me. I loved the mountains of New Mexico, when we camped there, it was so fun.  Even more I loved  the lava beds of Malpais National Monument. I've hunted and hunted for pictures of that part of the vacation, but have never found them,  I loved camping there, the fog in the morning was so amazing. Maybe the fog holds something in it that is familiar for me. I love to walk in it, safely enveloped in the thick blanket. It is how I see when I have no glasses on and it makes me kind of fuzzy inside.

this is nice, snake free water!

 My oldest brother married, and he and his wife bought a boat, the whole family went camping together on a large lake, don't remember where it was,  but remember it felt huge. One evening, the "adults' went out on the boat, I guess they were fishing or maybe skiing. Anyway, they left my older sister in charge. We went out in the lake... and as older sisters do sometimes, she scared me. The bottom of the lake was very even for several yards out... with little ripples in the sand and  smallish rocks here and there. I didn't know they were rocks. I could just see dark spots on the bottom. My sister wanted to swim, or just to get away from me... so she told me the dark spots on the bottom were snake holes and If I didn't stay back in the shallow water I'd get bitten by one.

This is iffy water, could be snakes... or rocks

OK, so I wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. I believed her. I had been warned to watch where I walked, stay on trails, to not get near snakes. Right, like I would intentionally get near a snake...
So, her telling me this seemed like a big sisterly-loving thing to do. I was terrified. I must have annoyed her even more with my panicked paddling trying to get to her, I am sure I cried.
On and on this sort of thing went. She didn't mean to torture me, just to be a big sister that was tired of dragging her little sister around. She was seven years older than me and I am sure I was a pain in the butt. Me being gullible, believed everything she told me.

As a teen, I tried to join as many organizations as I could, I was elected to the state board for the Junior Classical league. For a few of the statewide meetings, I had to fly... alone.... I had never done that and was terrified. One meeting was in  Houston and a connecting flight to Clear Lake City  and then a car trip on to Uvalde. (Texas is a large state).
 Now, Houston Continental is a crazy airport anyway, but I got turned around and ended up missing my connecting flight. I sat by myself until they had another flight, the last of the night. It was dark and I was a bit worried, but it all went well...
It was a great learning experience.

The Hotel Victoria, Chihuahua City

In High School, I also  traveled to Mexico with the Spanish Club. Four times in two years. ¡Ay, caramba! No one ever said it would be easy, but each one of those trips was frightening and fantastic!  I got lost in Chihuahua City, and I loved every minute of it. We had free time and were told to do something like take a bus, a taxi, do something hard... I did... I rode the bus, had no idea where I was, and relied on the kindness of the good citizens of Chihuahua to help me out, which was the object of the exercise I suppose...
Street vendors were kind enough to point and give detailed directions, Strangers on the sidewalks,  shop owners... waiters in
restaurants, they were all great!. I spent a whole day wandering the city streets with no communication with the rest of the group...
 I would be terrified to allow my kids to go, Today, they would not  be allowed that freedom to just wander alone in a huge city.

One of Pancho Villa's widows

 The day to day of being in Mexico was difficult. By this time of my life, my vision had worsened to the point that I wore contacts and if I didn't have them, I would only see blobs of color and very little at night. I used bottled water to clean them and prayed I wouldn't lose one.  having contacts meant the difference of being able to actually find my way around or sitting in my hotel room, alone.



Picture of Houston Intercontinental Airport by airway news . com