Mr. Magoo

Yes, I've done it again. This time there was no cursing or screaming in pain. I guess I have gotten used to it and am no longer surprised. Like a slow motion movie, I lurched forward and felt myself flying through the air towards the inevitable collision with mother earth. When it came, I just lay there like a beached whale, pain shooting through my body, and the sound of good Samaritans rushing, once again, to my aid. I continued to lay there while I assessed my injuries and determined that nothing was broken, just a little blood, and a lot of embarrassment. I had stepped off of the stairs at ’Bill’s Filling Station’, thinking I was walking down the handicapped ramp. Some of this was due to vodka and some was due to my blindness, but seeing as I have done the same thing totally sober, I tend to put more of the blame on blindness. I know it is just a matter of time before I break a bone or have a serious injury, but for now I think my body is still not that brittle.

Should I start walking around with a white cane with the red tip, and how would that look at bowling? Could I get an additional handicap on my score? My biggest problem is that I don't admit to myself how bad my vision is and still go through life like nothing is wrong, walking into people at the store, knocking over drinks, and tripping over my dog Molly. If you all think I am mean to Mark, what about the fact that he constantly sneaks up to me on my blind side and scares the hell out of me?

Before I was diagnosed with glaucoma and informed that I had lost fifty percent of my vision, I just thought that I had a brain tumor. I have stopped driving now, but in the past few years I have run over a bicyclist with my car, ran into the rear of a pickup truck, and drove into the side of a woman’s car while trying to park. At least when I was driving I never hurt myself, just other people.