And the blind shall see!

I was reminded recently of a former beau I once dated.  David was a really neat guy who happened to be blind.  We met under unusual circumstances.  I was acting as an interpreter for a deaf/blind student at the University and David was an acquaintance of Don's. Don would call him quite frequently and on those occasions using a speaker phone I would interpret David's side of the conversation to my deaf/blind student who although deaf was able to speak.  My job was to be only an instrument but it was impossible not to get involved to some degree.  I found David very interesting and  I really wanted to know more about him.  Sometimes I would have to speak directly to him when he had difficulty understanding Don on the phone. 

David worked for the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and had met Don through his work there.  Evidently he was curious about me as well and obtained my number from Don.  One nigh he called and we spent about 3 hours talking on the phone before we decided to go out together.

I had never dated a visually impaired person since my work was with the hearing impaired.  I had learned a little about working with the blind from being with Don but my knowledge was definitely limited.  David was a patient teacher.  

We had several dates before I took him to meet my parents.  I had explained to my mom and dad that David was blind before I introduced them.  We had no more sat down in my parent's living room when my mother started walking around the room talking while at the same time changing the light bulbs in all the fixtures.  She was replacing every 60 watt bulb with a 100 watt bulb when my dad asked, "Lolita, what in the world are you doing?"  


David leaned close to me and asked me what was going on.  I explained that my mother was increasing the luminosity of the room when David laughed and responded, "Why didn't I think of that!"