The Magic of the Majestic Falls

We spent five hours in the car today on our drive home. It was a nice drive on a beautiful day. Our bags are all unpacked, and the first load of laundry is going. Sounds of the kids laughing and playing is music to my ears as I sit here with my fresh steeped peppermint tea, that I have missed drinking, and a, ok two (don't judge me), maple cream biscuit cookies (man, why did I not buy two boxes of these?!) from our fun filled trip to Canada. 

Almost every year since my husband and I got married, nine to be exact, we have spent one week in Toronto visiting his big, wonderful family. His mom, being one of 13 kids, has a family that surpasses the size of most. I have loved our trips there and always look forward to them. It is a busy time filled with traveling from home to home, wonderful and engaging chats, and food, so much food! Every year I come back a decent five pounds heavier, thanks to all of the marvelous foods that are served at every home we visit. After we spent four days in Toronto we packed up and headed to Niagara Falls. A place I have always wanted to visit. A bucket list item I finally got to mark off thanks to my gracious husband. 

The two days spent in Niagara Falls were simply put, breathtaking. The views are things that cannot be written about in a way the minds of those that read will fully comprehend. We walked and walked and walked the entire time we were there. All of our kids did amazing and even the little guy made the whole trek. There was one moment yesterday that really touched my soul. We had gone down to the edge of the Table Rock Welcome Center to take in the splendid beauty and force that is Horseshoe Falls, one part of Niagara Falls. Now to clarify, I am from the Pacific Northwest. I am well versed when it comes to beautiful creations. There is no shortage of amazing waterfalls in the PNW. 

At one time there was this spectacular rainbow that appeared and went from one end of the falls to the other. It was truly something to behold. For a moment the entire world  kind of disappeared as I marveled at the beauty of it. And then as if there was a lesson to be learned, the world started coming back into focus. I looked around at the hundreds of thousands of people standing there with myself and my family taking in this moment. It was then that it hit me. I watched an older Caucasian woman happily taking a picture of an Indian family and asking them if the picture was ok as she returned their camera. I saw an African man return a toy that an Asian child had dropped on the ground with a smile on his face and the child’s, as the parents said thank you with smiles as well. I saw every race, every culture, every religion, heard every language just standing there in that moment. Every color of every person so beautiful. 

I looked back at the rainbow and saw the same. Every distinct color so beautiful in its own right but when combined with the other colors, it created this amazing visual masterpiece. In a time when there   is so much hate for those that are different, this moment gave me hope that all is not lost. Every person at the falls that day was so immeasurably happy. People different from one another wanting to help others create memories by taking their pictures or conversing with one another about the amazing waterfalls to behold. And that was the magic in that moment. Or as I told my son later, the pot of gold you find at the end of the rainbow. 

Do you copy?

I watch my kids often and think about when I was growing up and the relationship I had with my brother. There were moments when my brother and I were thick as thieves and moments when we could not stand to be in the same room as each other. Having a sibling is a blessing I did not always appreciate in my teenage years but as time went on and we became adults I find immeasurable value in having siblings. So many things I went through in life I survived because I had my brother to lean on or complain to, and that is still true to this day. Though time and distance do not provide us many opportunities to spend time together, I know that he is always a phone call or FaceTime away. I think about that and hope that my kids will find the same value in their relationship as well and today during nap time it occurred to me that I believe they will.
One of my favorite memories of my brother and I growing up was after our mom would tuck us in for bed and we thought she had gone downstairs to do some sewing or reading or something we would play games. Our bedrooms were right next door to each other. And so we could talk and hear each other well. One of the games we would play is "I am thinking of a person"....and we would go on to describe the person in as much detail as we could and see if the other person could figure out who we were describing. We would go on like this for a while until we would hear our Mom "ok you guys go to bed!" And we would wait....."hey are you awake"...."yep"....wanna play another game.....until we would eventually fall asleep.
My kids were gifted some walkie talkies from a friend of theirs recently. They have thoroughly enjoyed playing together with them. Today after I laid them down for naps I went downstairs to get started on my business proposal project for school. Then I heard it....(squawk from the walkie talkie) "hey H are you awake"...."yes brother"...."H you have to talk quietly so mommy can't hear us"...."ok brother"...."H you're supposed to say 'copy that' or '10-4'"...."ok brother" (I sit there and chuckle to myself as her 3 year old self just does not quite grasp the walkie talkie lingo) "H, do you want me to read you a bedtime story?" "Yes, brother"...and so her big brother begins to read her a bedtime story through the walkie talkie.
There are days they fight like nothing I have ever seen. Testing my patience and my inner mother strength not to yell and scream "knock it off". And then I get these moments. It is these moments that tug at my heart and let me know that someday they will value their relationship as much as I do the one I have with my brother.

Gifts We Take For Granted

Do you ever stop and realize gifts we are given in this life that we so easily take for granted? Simple things like watching our children play outside, listening to their laughter or hearing them say ‘I love you’. Tasting food and experiencing different cuisines. Wandering around in nature, in all of its splendid glory. 

Three weeks ago, I woke up one morning to a blurry world. Normally this is common for me, as I have needed corrective lenses since my late teenage years. What was unusual though was when I was looking at my hand in front of my face but not being able to see it clearly. Thinking it was from a late night of studying I went to the kitchen continually blinking my eyes to focus while I made my husband coffee before he went to work. I sat down at my computer to look through a school project I was working on and realized I could not even see my computer screen unless I closed my right eye. 

I went to the bathroom to put in my contact lens. The left one went in and was fine. I looked around the bathroom and nothing had changed. However, when I closed my left eye I still could only see blobs of blurry things in my surroundings. This was very unusual. Normally my right eye is my stronger eye and I usually only need my contacts to see things in the distance. So, I went to put my right contact lens in. The world was still a blurry mess. I thought maybe it was something wrong with the lens. I threw it out and got a new one. Same thing. Frustrated, I decided to open a new box and try one from the new box. Same thing. Hmm, what is going on. We needed to schedule our annual eye exams anyway, so I called and scheduled our appointments. Mine was last Monday.

I went in and when they asked if this was just a routine annual exam I explained that I had not been able to see out of my right eye for a week and a half. That the world was blurry, and I mostly walked around with my eye shut if I needed to see anything. They took me back for my exam. They started the exam, but I couldn’t read any of the lines I should have been able to. So, they moved me to the room where the doctor would see me. She came in and said that they would need to dilate my eyes and do an in depth structural exam because something wasn’t right. Well duh, I am practically blind right now! Don’t worry I did not say that. After the exam, in true doctor fashion she pushed the machine away and started talking about what was going on and the possibilities that presented themselves. My cornea had either experienced a hypoxic injury, or I had a condition known as Terrien’s corneal degeneration. Terrien’s is normally seen in men, however it can occur in women. She said because of the significant inflammation in my eye she would need to put me on a combo antibiotic/steroid drop that I would need to use four times a day as well as a flax oil lubricating drop every two hours and to take fish oil for the next week to see if the inflammation would go down. I also had to get a special lens for my glasses to try and make some corrections to help me navigate this challenge and improve my vision as much as we could. 

Today was one week. I have thankfully had small improvements in my close vision and don’t have to sit with my face right next to the computer or close my right eye but there is still a significant amount of inflammation she says. I have to continue to use the drops for two more weeks while they try to get my insurance to approve a new medicated drop for my eye. I will need to go back in two weeks to have my eye numbed, so they can do an aqueous test and another vision check. I asked the doctor today if this will be my new ‘normal’ and the world will resume in a less perfect picture for my right eye. She said she hopes that as the cornea heals I will get some of my close vision back in my right eye but only time will tell. So, if you see me close my right eye if we are conversing, please note I am not winking at you but rather trying to focus with my left eye to get a better picture. 

The doctor told me she was glad that I was being so diligent about the medication and lubricating drops. She told me a story of a young lady, a few years younger than myself, that had experienced a similar issue but was not willing to adhere to the medication regimen and also not willing to go without her contacts and she is now waiting for a cornea transplant. I assured her that I am not willing to take that risk and if that means walking around with my big ole glasses and excusing myself to make sure I get my drops in my eye every two hours I will do just that. 

Life is precious. We often get caught up in the busyness and take for granted the gifts we have. Vision is one of those precious things that when it’s gone, it’s gone. I am determined to do what I have to do to regain as much of my vision as I can, doing exactly what the doctor tells me to do. She said this will likely be a several month process, but I am on the right track and she thinks that I will hopefully regain some (If not most fingers crossed) of my close vision in the next several months but my distant vision will remain with a significantly higher prescription of correction moving forward. This has been a real wake up call for me. In the last week I have looked around at things and often thought to myself what if I never get to see this clearly again and the damage cannot be corrected. Obviously, my left eye is fine, and I can navigate the world with my left eye, but I realize now the preciousness of the things we are afforded that can so easily be taken away in the blink of an eye.