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Saturday, 15 June 2019

WHAT WE BECOME BY FIONA CUMMINGS


WHAT WE BECOME

Something I read today.

“What we think about most, is what we become!””

Well I’m not too sure that to be true, are you? I guess some people are fortunate to have dreams and their dreams do come true. So, we all grow up thinking what we will be when we get older. But what is the miracle that makes some people be able to follow their dreams, for their wishes to actually come true? Is it determination? Is it positive thinking? Is it push in life or is it what I have touched on before, up to us to pick the right path and keep going but stopping when the time is right? Or is it just our lives are mapped out for us and we are guided by something to which we have not learned about just yet and we may never learn who is guiding us.

 

If you are lucky enough to have sight, you can look in the mirror. What do you see? I have not been able to see myself for twenty years or more now. even that hellish time is passing by now at some kind of crazy speed. I don’t have the gift of being able to look in the mirror. To find solace in blaming the bad lighting for what I am looking at, for whom is staring back at me. Aging eyes and skin. Not the person in my head that I think I am. Who is that person? Who have I become? You as a sighted person have seen yourself over the years growing older slowly, if I was to be given my vision back now, I think I would get a shock. Who will I see? I don’t have anyone in my life I remember that was or is older than me. I don’t have anyone who belongs to me who is older so I can’t say, oh goodness, I’m starting to look like Aunt Mary or my Mum. Being adopted removed that pleasure, that ability to run to an image to get some kind of acceptance from a mentor or elder.

 

I can imagine if I am blessed in my life to ever have my sight restored, I can only conclude that  it will be like someone being in some kind of horrific accident and having to have years of surgery to totally restore their features and what they will end up with may be someone else’s face. It won’t be the same as I knew when I was a young lady. It won’t be that pretty young thing that had floorless skin and beautiful big blue eyes with a fresh smile and the gift of youth. But a middle or more than middle aged woman who I have never seen before.

 

I guess there will be glimpses of what I remembered in myself. May be the shape of my lips or my smile. As it’s my smile most people comment on. Can you imagine that? I went blind many years ago. 21 in fact, almost to the day, and tomorrow I wake up and for whatever reason, I can see? What would I do and what would I say? Well I would think I had died and this was heaven.

I would think I was dreaming and try to wake myself up.

I would grab my chest holding on tight as I am sure my heart would try to burst through my skin. I would sit up in bed and then frees. Would I dare ever close my eyes? I think I would keep them open as long as possible and when my eyes are so saw, I would physically hold them open with my fingertips as if I closed them, I would be so afraid I would never be able to see when they reopened.

 

If I could get to my feet, I would go to the bathroom. I would go to our mirror, as my Husband and I are both blind, but we still have mirrors in our house.

 

Would I look? Would I dare take a look at the person standing staring back at me?

 

What if I didn’t like what I was seeing? How could I not like what was looking back at me, how could I ever again dislike anything in life. if I were given my sight, I would never be unhappy about anything. Surely?

 

I would stare at this person. I would stair right into her eyes. I would place my fingertips on my cheeks and slowly move them about my face as if to point out the lines of time. But I would love every single fault. Every imperfection. Because I could see. I was free. For the first time in over twenty years. My chains were gone and my legs were free to go wherever I wanted. No longer a prisoner to a sin, a crime I must have committed to deserve the pain I have felt with sight loss.

 

Of course, being blind has brought me some positives. I have met and got to know some people who will be forever in my life. I have had two beautiful guide dogs. I understand life so much more than what I would have done if I was always with vision. I am more compassionate. Understanding of other people’s troubles. But to be honest, I think I was more than half way there by the age of 10. I don’t need to learn any more just if my maker and decision maker is reading this.

 

I have been through the times of life and witnessed every single face looking back at me if not visually, certainly in my mind heart and soul. I can see right through people you don’t need vision to do that.

 

 

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