You are invited to submit a guest story, any personal experiences, humorous or serious, related to blindness. Send your stories to Lenny
I hope you all get a good laugh out of this since it honestly happened last April while I was attending Pittsburg Vision Services.
My training program was coming to a close at Pittsburg Vision Services and I had made several new friends while there. I decided that several of us should take a walk down to the local bar called Frogs and have a couple of drinks before we all parted ways. Well the old saying the blind leading the blind is very true. My self and my friend Tom get along just fine with canes and it was around 10 PM when we went out the door of Pittsburgh Vision Services headed to the bar for some drinks and food. We met another at the door Brian who was new to the adjustment program who was not yet trained in the use of a cane and when he asked where we were headed, he asked if he could come along since he had not been out in months . Tom and I laughed but agreed to take Brian along down to the bar.
Well the beers went down one after another and what seemed to be only a short time turned in to hours. We finally decided to leave since we had about 4 blocks to walk to get back to the Center where we all stayed. I went out the door with Brian holding my left arm and we both had way to much to drink as did Tom.The cane had a mind of its own since it hit a crack in the sidewalk just a short distance after we got outside the bar. I heard it hit some place and then I started to say to Tom watch out for the crack in the sidewalk when I heard Tom say that he also found that same crack and he just lost his cane as well. Now things got interesting since Brian just stood there since he had no cane. Tom and my self go down on the sidewalk on our hands and knees and started to sweep it with out hands in search of out canes when this MAN walked up and asked what we were doing. I said excuse me but we had a few drinks and we lost our canes and would you be kind enough to help us find them. Well it turned out that the MAN in question was a Police Officer and he found both canes and handed them back to us. He asked again if we were alright and Tom and I said yes and that we were headed back to Pittsburgh Vision Services only a couple blocks away. I was embarrassed at the time and never thought to look at things from a sighted persons view since it must have been funny as hell to see two grown men crawling around on a sidewalk at night in front of a bar in Pittsburgh. Amazing we got back to the Center and did not talk about it to anyone but that town must be wired since the staff at the Center knew all about it and had a good laugh the next day.
True story!
Dear Lenny,
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful web page. I am laughing and crying at the same time. I love the cheese story, and of course the genuflecting!
Being a Catholic, I believe I can add to that story. You know, we catholics are so used to genuflecting, that we take for granted that we can exercise this move with all sorts of agility and not much thought. When I was about 16 (and totally boy-crazy!), I found myself following my father right down the middle aisle of St. Patrick's Church at the 12:15 Mass on a Sunday morning. My father, of course, always insisted on sitting very close to the front of the church. When we got to the designated pew, my father knelt down to genuflect while I was busy gaping over my right shoulder at my latest "crush", who was a few pews behind us.
You know what's coming now, don't you. Luckily, Dad was much bigger than me, and I flew over him and was sprawled on the floor. He, however, managed to keep his dignity intact and regain his footing! And also get me off the floor!Needless to say, I was never able to look at the heartthrob of the moment again! And from that moment on, my Father never walked in front of me.
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