Sunday, February 13, 2011

Dialog in the Dark


As the parents of three kids, valentines no longer belongs to us as a couple. It's about cupcakes, school parties, and all the heart shaped food that we can invent. My very clever husband came home on the red eye Thursday night, and stayed home on Friday with me for a date day. We had lunch and went to an exhibit in Atlanta called Dialog in the Dark.

First - lunch. I had a salad, and made Adam order one as well. Adam then ordered rum and coke at 11:30 am, and I could not let him drink alone on our valentines date! What kind of wife would I be? We both love crab cakes, so we split some, yummy!

Then we walked to the exhibit. Basically, you are given a cane, and then lead by a visually impaired guide through a pitch black walking tour. I am not going to give too many details, because I would not want to ruin it for anyone who might take the tour.

Sitting in the lobby, waiting for the tour, I had a minute. I was thinking I can't do this. I don't even want to pretend to be totally blind. Tears started to well in my eyes, and I was trying to think about other things. Then Adam leaned over and says, "I can find you in the dark, you smell like rum." Funny, funny. Thank God for Adam.

Once we were in the room and the guide began talking, I was fine. The tour was fantastic, enlightening and interesting. I love that the exhibit employs visually impaired people. Our tour guide was great. I wanted to pick his brain about his vision loss. We chatted about what he had and what I have. He said something about having friends with RP, and that they all lost their vision much sooner than I am losing mine. I really wanted like 30 minutes to interrogate him, about his life, etc.... But I didn't know how to phrase "You want to hang out sometime, so I can ask you a series of really personal questions?"
It was a really good day.




2 comments:

  1. What a fun date activity....and well, any dates are nice away from kids right?
    I know how you feel about worrying about where to live. I am constantly looking at homes for sale to see if anything comes up that is that "Perfect" location. When in actuality I am probably in the best location for me right now...except that my husband has a 45 min commute and my house is not big enough for our family either.
    It really is amazing how much our thoughts on what is to come with this blindness can take over our lives. I feel like I am constantly trying to hold back talking about it to others so that they don't think that's all I want to talk about! It is getting better....but definitely have those days.
    If you ever want to chat with someone about it....I'd love to hear from you sometime. Not that I'm any expert!! My email again is laceyDOTrignellATgmailDOTcom

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  2. Sounds like such an experience. Love our supportive husbands who interject humor.

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