Can you remember the last time your mind was blown\u2026<\/p>\n
When meeting someone new?<\/p>\n
Our little worlds collide with people each day. Quick encounters. Blink and they\u2019re gone. Most of these strangers are friendly enough. A few make us smile. Maybe even laugh\u2026<\/p>\n
But when was the last time a \u201ccollision\u201d blew your mind? \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
Those faces all blur together, don\u2019t they? One after the next. Would\u2019ve been hard to think of the last stranger who stuck in my head\u2026<\/p>\n
Until last week.<\/p>\n
Just a regular day. Pulling up at home. Turning off the engine. Spotting an old Persian lady with her Trader Joe\u2019s bag in one hand. White cane in the other. Walking carefully down the road\u2026<\/p>\n
Hold on.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s blind??<\/p>\n
See, I\u2019ve 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\u2019t 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\u2019ve stumbled more times than I can count.<\/p>\n
She looks to be struggling\u2026<\/p>\n
As I exit my car, she says \u201chello\u201d into the void. Kind of just speaking to the darkness. In case someone is there, I guess.<\/p>\n
Well, good timing\u2026<\/p>\n
I respond with a hello and walk over.<\/p>\n
She asks if this is Ventura Boulevard and I say, \u201cNo, it\u2019s Orion.\u201d She looks bummed about that. But I\u2019m locked into Careful Mode. Y\u2019know, in case she\u2019s crazy. We\u2019re 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\u2019s just old, blind, and turned around.<\/p>\n
I ask where she\u2019s heading.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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\u2019s a blind old lady gonna do? I face way more danger each day from Jimmy, the neighbor\u2019s dog. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She asks: \u201cCould you walk me back to Hayvenhurst?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Apparently, the route is easy from that intersection. I guess it\u2019s where she steps off the bus. Easy to get spun around in that spot. She says it happened once before. Ok, wait, I\u2019m still stuck on HOW DOES SHE TAKE A BUS? To go grocery shopping? With no vision. <\/p>\n
I mean, what does she do when she gets there??<\/p>\n
We start walking down to Hayvenhurst. She grabs my hand for some guidance. Strangers two minutes ago. Now holding hands. Looks like we\u2019re in this together now. I don\u2019t even hold hands with my closest friends. It\u2019s actually kind of nice. My palms do get a bit sweaty as she stumbles on a broken piece of sidewalk. Oops. Forgot I\u2019m supposed to be the one on lookout duty. Because, again, I can\u2019t 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\u2019m locked in now. There\u2019s not gonna be any more stumbling.<\/p>\n
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 \u201ctalking into\u201d her phone to find stuff online. I guess everything for her must be voice activated. Me? I\u2019d probably be in the fetal position without my sense of sight. Not her. Just chatting away. Laughing on our stroll. I\u2019m watching for all the potential danger in our terrain. Wondering how she does all the little things each day. <\/p>\n
What is it, a thousand times more difficult? A million?<\/p>\n
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\u2019s staying around here to help a friend who\u2019s even older.<\/p>\n
Wait, this isn\u2019t even her neighborhood??<\/p>\n
How is she doing any of this???<\/p>\n
We arrive at Hayvenhurst. She assures me that it\u2019s all good from here. Knows the way home. I watch her move down the sidewalk\u2026still blown away by the reality of it. Every single day. No removing a blindfold to get back to \u201cnormal.\u201d I can\u2019t help but notice this suddenly terrifying disaster of a sidewalk. Strangers ten minutes ago. Now worried about terrain.<\/p>\n
I walk back home. And immediately jump in the car with my girlfriend Linda. Filling her in. Realizing it\u2019s 95 degrees outside\u2026and I just took off on a blind lady.<\/p>\n
We find our way back to her. I hop out and ask if she\u2019s doing ok. Again, the situation is surreal for me. But just another day for her. She says my name to confirm it\u2019s me because, literally, I\u2019m a voice in the dark. <\/p>\n
Within seconds, I\u2019m laughing because this lady is just so spunky. It\u2019s a full-on yappy conversation again. She accepts the ride. I hop in the back. This confuses her for a second because it\u2019s two of us in here. Imagine that. To not even know who\u2019s sitting in the car she entered. Destination is just a couple streets away from here. It\u2019s 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, \u201cThat is a happy tear. Because I\u2019m glad to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting her home safely, we say goodbye. Days pass. I settle back in my old routine. And, yet, this \u201ccollision\u201d with a stranger still lingers. Not a disposable interaction like so many. I can\u2019t help but wonder how she\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was the last time a collision blew your mind?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
It was just last week.<\/p>\n
A stranger held my hand and made me laugh\u2026<\/p>\n
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