Seeing Stars
Can you remember the last time your mind was blown…
When meeting someone new?
Our little worlds collide with people each day. Quick encounters. Blink and they’re gone. Most of these strangers are friendly enough. A few make us smile. Maybe even laugh…
But when was the last time a “collision” blew your mind?
Those faces all blur together, don’t they? One after the next. Would’ve been hard to think of the last stranger who stuck in my head…
Until last week.
Just a regular day. Pulling up at home. Turning off the engine. Spotting an old Persian lady with her Trader Joe’s bag in one hand. White cane in the other. Walking carefully down the road…
Hold on.
She’s blind??
See, I’ve been roaming these streets for the last 20 years and have NEVER seen a blind person on them. Literally not once. Tough terrain, to put it mildly. I don’t even get how someone could do it here. Fast-moving cars, tons of dogs, and super damaged sidewalks. If this neighborhood was a ski slope? Double black diamond. Even with both eyes intact, I’ve stumbled more times than I can count.
She looks to be struggling…
As I exit my car, she says “hello” into the void. Kind of just speaking to the darkness. In case someone is there, I guess.
Well, good timing…
I respond with a hello and walk over.
She asks if this is Ventura Boulevard and I say, “No, it’s Orion.” She looks bummed about that. But I’m locked into Careful Mode. Y’know, in case she’s crazy. We’re in the big city, after all. Then I look down at her small frame struggling with a bag of groceries. Come on, man. Get it together. She’s just old, blind, and turned around.
I ask where she’s heading.
It’s only a few streets away in the same neighborhood. We talk for a minute. I figure, fine, lemme ask if she wants a ride. Even though I vowed decades ago to never do that again. Had a weird experience in West Virginia with the wrong stranger. But take off the jaded guy armor for one second, dude. Just lower the drawbridge. What’s a blind old lady gonna do? I face way more danger each day from Jimmy, the neighbor’s dog.
She asks:
“Could you walk me back to Hayvenhurst?”
Apparently, the route is easy from that intersection. I guess it’s where she steps off the bus. Easy to get spun around in that spot. She says it happened once before. Ok, wait, I’m still stuck on HOW DOES SHE TAKE A BUS? To go grocery shopping? With no vision.
I mean, what does she do when she gets there??
We start walking down to Hayvenhurst. She grabs my hand for some guidance. Strangers two minutes ago. Now holding hands. Looks like we’re in this together now. I don’t even hold hands with my closest friends. It’s actually kind of nice. My palms do get a bit sweaty as she stumbles on a broken piece of sidewalk. Oops. Forgot I’m supposed to be the one on lookout duty. Because, again, I can’t seem to grasp the fact that everything in front of her is pitch black. Says she prefers walking in the street. Sidewalks are trickier. I’m locked in now. There’s not gonna be any more stumbling.
This lady chats me up the entire way. With gusto. Asks if I just got home from work. Wants to hear about what I do. Says she can look me up by “talking into” her phone to find stuff online. I guess everything for her must be voice activated. Me? I’d probably be in the fetal position without my sense of sight. Not her. Just chatting away. Laughing on our stroll. I’m watching for all the potential danger in our terrain. Wondering how she does all the little things each day.
What is it, a thousand times more difficult? A million?
She has a perky type of spirit. Like a warm breeze of outgoing friendliness. I ask about the vision. Her retina deteriorated. Been blind for the last 23 years. Only sees minor stuff with shadows. Apparently, she’s staying around here to help a friend who’s even older.
Wait, this isn’t even her neighborhood??
How is she doing any of this???
We arrive at Hayvenhurst. She assures me that it’s all good from here. Knows the way home. I watch her move down the sidewalk…still blown away by the reality of it. Every single day. No removing a blindfold to get back to “normal.” I can’t help but notice this suddenly terrifying disaster of a sidewalk. Strangers ten minutes ago. Now worried about terrain.
I walk back home. And immediately jump in the car with my girlfriend Linda. Filling her in. Realizing it’s 95 degrees outside…and I just took off on a blind lady.
We find our way back to her. I hop out and ask if she’s doing ok. Again, the situation is surreal for me. But just another day for her. She says my name to confirm it’s me because, literally, I’m a voice in the dark.
Within seconds, I’m laughing because this lady is just so spunky. It’s a full-on yappy conversation again. She accepts the ride. I hop in the back. This confuses her for a second because it’s two of us in here. Imagine that. To not even know who’s sitting in the car she entered. Destination is just a couple streets away from here. It’s very chatty. A fun minute or two until we get there. At one point, a couple of tears roll out of her eye. She says, “That is a happy tear. Because I’m glad to meet you.”
Getting her home safely, we say goodbye. Days pass. I settle back in my old routine. And, yet, this “collision” with a stranger still lingers. Not a disposable interaction like so many. I can’t help but wonder how she’s doing.
“When was the last time a collision blew your mind?”
It was just last week.
A stranger held my hand and made me laugh…
I worried about her…
Wanted to know her story…
And will continue to hope she’s ok.
