oh wow. This made me cry. Onion eyes be damned - I need to reapply all my makeup now! I can fully imagine that little girl's delight from your description. Tears, I have long said, are the fruits of truth. Joy and sobs are as plentiful as sorrow and tears, if only we allow ourselves to feel it, to truly be amazed.
And watching the surgeries - what a gift to see the miracles happen!
This is the most remarkable story you've shared yet. So much can be done when dedicated people aim at a goal and greed and regulations don't get in the way.
I had a similar surgery when I was five. Apparently it's a very tricky surgery because the doc has to align the muscles just right or the eye can be pulled to far in the opposite direction. My doc did a splendid job, but I had to laugh when someone told me a few years later than such surgeries couldn't be done anymore. I didn't press for why. Eye surgeries are complex and easily botched apparently. Not everyone has the talent and hands to do it. Bravo for your young doctors.
Of all the projects I worked on in my life, two stand out: the eye surgery project and the shed building project I helped on after the fire that destroyed much of Paradise, California. Oh, wait, there’s another one I will post about this week.
It was actually almost 25 years, but at times felt like several centuries. One thing I know for certain is that everyone in hell will be sitting in a middle seat in Economy Minus class between two enormous demons who snore and end up snuggled up on your shoulders.
Well, you sorta lost me there, but it sounds absolutely horrid. Econ was not my favorite class and I'm so glad it was only a semester in high school ... and the teacher was a John Bircher. .. so ......
I lost myself there, too. I was trying to complain and get a lot of sympathy for all the years I flew economy class on the airlines. One of the airlines gives you enough legroom, if you pay extra for their Economy Plus seats, so you can lower you risk of blood clots! Otherwise, you have to eat your pretzels with your mouth between your knees because the legroom is so miserable.
But I traveled in Economy Minus class for most of my many years of airline travel, so it’s now my idea of what hell is like. Well, on second thought, maybe even hell isn’t as bad as flying economy on long flights.
NOW you have my sympathy. Being "substantial" people, my husband and I don't fly anymore. If it can't be driven in a sedan or Jeep, it can't be done. He now refuses to fly at all, even for work-related stuff. He's not only tall, but his 350+ girth prohibits any pretzel eating between knees. Flying used to be kind of fun back when we were slender and didn't know better. Now, you're right, it is very close to hell.
And thanks for reminding me of one of the best things about living in Maryland. Going to the boat was my happy place.
Did you ever see the Elvis impersonator, all 350 lbs, on New Year’s Eve on a trawler circling the Inner Harbor? Year after year, my kids and I kind of hoped he would fall overboard. He was always DWI: dancing while intoxicated. It never happened but it could have.
Which reminds me of another happy place in Baltimore. My son and I went to watch Cal Ripken hit home runs and the Orioles would still lose. We got to see his second to last game before he retired.
The best thing we ever did with them was when we took several from the local blind society for a visit hosted by the Irish Blind Society. It was at least a week and what a week it was. For both groups, it was transformative. Our folks had a whole new world of possibilities opened to them and the Irish folks discovered how much they had to share.
We spent a weekend with a branch of the Irish Blind Society in Wexford, on the southeast coast, and our driver took a couple of us to the beach where they filmed the opening scenes from Saving Private Ryan. It didn’t look the same and it faced the wrong direction. Now I can’t suspend my disbelief when I watch the movie.
Good on them. For years, I worked with the Helen Keller Foundation who donated vitamin D capsules to our mother-children health programmes. Piece by piece, small gifts and efforts change the world.
Every eye deserves to witness the beauty of the world and the ones who love them.
oh wow. This made me cry. Onion eyes be damned - I need to reapply all my makeup now! I can fully imagine that little girl's delight from your description. Tears, I have long said, are the fruits of truth. Joy and sobs are as plentiful as sorrow and tears, if only we allow ourselves to feel it, to truly be amazed.
And watching the surgeries - what a gift to see the miracles happen!
This is the most remarkable story you've shared yet. So much can be done when dedicated people aim at a goal and greed and regulations don't get in the way.
I had a similar surgery when I was five. Apparently it's a very tricky surgery because the doc has to align the muscles just right or the eye can be pulled to far in the opposite direction. My doc did a splendid job, but I had to laugh when someone told me a few years later than such surgeries couldn't be done anymore. I didn't press for why. Eye surgeries are complex and easily botched apparently. Not everyone has the talent and hands to do it. Bravo for your young doctors.
Of all the projects I worked on in my life, two stand out: the eye surgery project and the shed building project I helped on after the fire that destroyed much of Paradise, California. Oh, wait, there’s another one I will post about this week.
Over your seventeen years of service, there are undoubtedly many more projects that changed people's lives that you have forgetten.
It was actually almost 25 years, but at times felt like several centuries. One thing I know for certain is that everyone in hell will be sitting in a middle seat in Economy Minus class between two enormous demons who snore and end up snuggled up on your shoulders.
Well, you sorta lost me there, but it sounds absolutely horrid. Econ was not my favorite class and I'm so glad it was only a semester in high school ... and the teacher was a John Bircher. .. so ......
I lost myself there, too. I was trying to complain and get a lot of sympathy for all the years I flew economy class on the airlines. One of the airlines gives you enough legroom, if you pay extra for their Economy Plus seats, so you can lower you risk of blood clots! Otherwise, you have to eat your pretzels with your mouth between your knees because the legroom is so miserable.
But I traveled in Economy Minus class for most of my many years of airline travel, so it’s now my idea of what hell is like. Well, on second thought, maybe even hell isn’t as bad as flying economy on long flights.
NOW you have my sympathy. Being "substantial" people, my husband and I don't fly anymore. If it can't be driven in a sedan or Jeep, it can't be done. He now refuses to fly at all, even for work-related stuff. He's not only tall, but his 350+ girth prohibits any pretzel eating between knees. Flying used to be kind of fun back when we were slender and didn't know better. Now, you're right, it is very close to hell.
They say that there are angels amongst us. You truly are one. What a heartwarming essay!
If we focus on loving and caring, that is what we will find. Imagine a world like that!
What a wonderful story. Nice seeing you this morning!
Oh what you have seen!! And helped others see. Thanks, again, for a glimpse.
J
And thanks for reminding me of one of the best things about living in Maryland. Going to the boat was my happy place.
Did you ever see the Elvis impersonator, all 350 lbs, on New Year’s Eve on a trawler circling the Inner Harbor? Year after year, my kids and I kind of hoped he would fall overboard. He was always DWI: dancing while intoxicated. It never happened but it could have.
Which reminds me of another happy place in Baltimore. My son and I went to watch Cal Ripken hit home runs and the Orioles would still lose. We got to see his second to last game before he retired.
It’s incredible what a few motivated humans can do. Well done to you and your team.
The best thing we ever did with them was when we took several from the local blind society for a visit hosted by the Irish Blind Society. It was at least a week and what a week it was. For both groups, it was transformative. Our folks had a whole new world of possibilities opened to them and the Irish folks discovered how much they had to share.
We spent a weekend with a branch of the Irish Blind Society in Wexford, on the southeast coast, and our driver took a couple of us to the beach where they filmed the opening scenes from Saving Private Ryan. It didn’t look the same and it faced the wrong direction. Now I can’t suspend my disbelief when I watch the movie.
Saving eye sight costs so little.
The Fred Hollows Foundation continues decades of work, three million people with restored sight.
Good on them. For years, I worked with the Helen Keller Foundation who donated vitamin D capsules to our mother-children health programmes. Piece by piece, small gifts and efforts change the world.
Every eye deserves to witness the beauty of the world and the ones who love them.
Fred Hollows was a hero, he died too soon, not long after starting his foundation, which his family carried on. An amazing legacy.
Now I want to know more. Thanks, Caz.