Day 1:
Matthew 5:45 “…for He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust…” Every time it rained in west Texas but not on us, my father would always say “Well, it must be raining on the unjust.” I woke up in Houston this morning quoting both Matthew 5:45 and Bill Stafford. The airline noticed all the rain on all of us just and unjust in the terminal and cancelled ALL of our flights. For hours. And hours. I had a connection to make in Atlanta that I just barely made, but my bag didn’t.
I landed in Columbus, however, with plans on where to eat. Chelsea, a Dog Guide Mobility Instructor (GDMI), deaf/blind specialist, Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialist and otherwise bent on ruling the planet, went to graduate school at Ohio State University and gave me excellent suggestions. Northstar for a hamburger, and Jeni’s for ice cream. I had some Brambleberry Crisp (mostly like ice cream and kinda like cobbler) that was worth getting into a fight over. I’d fight someone right now for another scoop or two.
Since my last overnight stay in the Atlanta airport, I’ve traveled with a toothbrush and toothpaste in my carry-on bag, so I wasn’t completely empty-handed. My phone, a good book, and my computer (sans charger, though…) so I was set for a little while. I’ve done sink/shower laundry before, too, so I’m ready for just about anything. My luggage showed up around 10 so no such laundering would be necessary, and I headed to bed.
Day 2:
I’m in Hebron, OH (pronounced “He” “Brun”, if you want to sound like a local) to see Jim who’s been totally blind for the last 12 years due to a horrible bicycle accident. I sat in the living room of the house Jim built, after he lost his vision by the way, with his wife Kathy, as we discussed our plan for the week.
Photo Description: In his workshop, Jim shows off his latest creation, a curio cabinet. He is wearing a light-colored t-shirt and shorts.
Jim was an Industrial Arts teacher for years and built houses during his summers “off”. He’s a skilled craftsman, too, designing and building most of the cabinets and furniture in the house. Look to the trades, young people. Apprentice yourself out to an electrician or an HVAC technician. Learn to weld. Something like that, and you can write your own ticket. Jim’s also known as the Blind Clockmaker, as he has designed and built over 170 clocks by hand. He auctions them off to raise money for all kinds of good causes. He’s been on TV more than Errol Flynn and is a local celebrity. You can look him up on YouTube under Blind Clockmaker. Pretty groovy stuff.
Most of the time when I meet someone in their home area to help build their confidence on routes, I run into the same thing. I usually ask people to show me how they’re currently getting around because it’s a great way to gauge their skill level in a familiar environment. It also helps me orient myself to another brand-new environment because I usually get to my destinations in the dark. Another thing that usually happens is the client is usually nervous and doesn’t do as well as they normally would.
Nervousness, and stopping and starting a lot while explaining why they do things a certain way. If you’ve read this blog before, you know how I preach pace to keep you in a straight-ish line. If you just keep pedaling, you’ll keep your line better than you would with an inconsistent pace. Jim is no different in that he feels the need to explain why he does the things he does. We did accomplish a lot this morning, but we got a lot more production this afternoon when Jim settled in.
Day 3:
Camp is happening on campus at Leader Dog this week. Camp is great. It’s for 16 & 17 year-olds from the US and Canada and there’s 24 of them this year. I’m obviously not there this year because, you know, I’m in Hee-Brun. I would like to mention that it’s been 365 days since I turned over a canoe in the water.
Meredith, the manager of the O&M Department on campus, and I were out on the lake with the campers and she leaned over too far and dumped our canoe. She’ll never read this, so I can tell the story both the way I want to, AND the way it really happened. Meredith and I were out enjoying the lake when she decided to get motherly and try to help out a camper. Her obviously novice canoe skills evident, she leaned over way too far too fast and dumped us into the very cool water. Being a hot day, I really didn’t mind. The teen-aged life guards on duty, however, turned it into an episode of Baywatch and raced to our “rescue”. Good times. Love ya, Merideth. Mean it!
Jim and I headed out to Clay’s, a local restaurant to which he’d like to travel on his own. I like the route a lot because he passes a lot of his other desired destinations on the way. Very sequential, of which I’m a big fan. Jim knows the way, but I show him a couple of things that make his job a little bit easier. Listening to traffic, which is your best friend, and maintaining a consistent pace from curb to curb.
One of Jim’s destinations along the way to Clay’s is Lulu’s coffee shop. We met Angela, the owner, out on the street, and then met the actual Lulu (Laura) behind the counter. Angela is a member of the local Lions Club and she recognized the connection immediately. Leader Dog was started by Lions back in 1939 and continue to be enormous supporters of our mission. Angela had emailed me by the time I got back to the hotel, and I passed it along to our Lions coordinator extraordinaire, Kesley. If you’re a Lion and you’re reading this, thank you. We couldn’t do what we do without you.
Day 4:
One of the strongest indications that I’ve done something right out in the field is when the client mentions that they’d like to try something they thought they couldn’t at the beginning of the week. Most of the time, the skills are already present but maybe the confidence is lacking a bit. I think I do a pretty good job of helping people realize what they can do, mostly with skills that are already present. Jim said today that he’d like to attempt to walk to Kroger, a route he didn’t really consider on Monday. It’s approximately the same distance from his house as the route to Clay’s, and there’s sidewalk all the way, so why not? Jim’s not as familiar going this way, but he’s game.
He’s increased his pace, which makes me almost giddy, because I know how it affects straight-line travel. There are some wonky intersections on this route, and there are all over the world. This is why this Home Delivery model is so important to folks. Standard mobility practices don’t always work, and certainly nothing in the book ever prepared me for this. You gotta go look at some things. Or, as a client, sometimes you just gotta go listen. Take someone with you who can give you some visual feedback, if you feel it’ll be helpful, but use your knowledge of how to cross streets and apply it to the wonky intersections in your area.
Jim and I got to Kroger, despite all the wonkiness, and located a bus stop sign. This is great news that Jim had just started to explore. Transportation is one of the top issues that people who are blind or visually impaired have to deal with, so the fact that Licking County has a free bus system is a real plus. We made a phone call and found out some real useful and helpful information. Afterwards, we located the entrances and exits for Kroger and headed back home. Yes, there was some time spent in the evil, evil parking lot, but not as much as I had feared.
Photo Description: Jim uses his cane on the sidewalk across Main Street from the Dari Bar. He is wearing a light-colored t-shirt and shorts, and the skies in the background are threatening.
I shopped local after work. I got a burger and fries from the Dari Bar, then had a dessert at Lulu’s, both places I couldn’t eat at anywhere else on the planet. I also have some goods in the hotel room from the local Amish market. You won’t find one of those in east Texas, for sure. Before going “home” for the day, I went to visit the Newark Earthworks, the largest intact Native American earthworks in the United States. If you’re not familiar, the earthworks all over the planet are very intricately developed by early humans that are designed in conjunction with the constellations that helped them develop a calendar, planting cycles, etc. and are considered to be sacred places. You can look it up, it’s pretty groovy. I did take a picture of it, but it’s kinda like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon. My phone camera isn’t going to do it much justice.
Day 5:
I just might move to Hebron. It’s late June and it hasn’t broken 80 degrees all week. In Nacogdoches this week, it’s been like the surface of the sun. I’ve eaten my dinner outside every night this week simply because I could. My rental has a sunroof and it’s been open all week. Just unheard of for this Texan. Everyone keeps saying that I should wait until winter before deciding to move, and maybe they have a point, but, so far, I’m sold on summer in Ohio. Jim and Kathy summer in Ohio and winter in Florida. I’m starting to see the genius of this idea. I’ve wanted to follow the cool weather all my life, but I haven’t been able to yet. At least not like I want to.
Jim and I decided to start our day by practicing a familiar route. The route to Clay’s is getting more and more familiar for Jim, and that breeds confidence. I notice because, usually, the more confident a person is, the quicker their pace becomes. Nobody’s running a race, but usually a lack of confidence leads to a slower pace. Kinda like driving. The more confident of a driver you are, the more comfortable you are at higher speeds. Pace also keeps you in a straighter line, which really helps Jim on street crossings and going across wide-open spaces like evil, evil parking lots. He’s got a really wide parking lot to cross on the way to Clay’s and he cruised right across it this morning.
This afternoon, we were exploring a new crossing of Main Street that Jim could use for other destinations and locating the bus stop on that corner when the bus pulled up and asked us if we wanted to ride the loop and see where all the stops were. Licking County has funded a free bus with 4 routes all over the county and the route through Hebron is a fairly new one that Jim has yet to explore. Well, our chance to do that just stopped in the middle of Main Street to see if we wanted to start right now. We graciously accepted and Dennis showed us the entire route around town and gave us tons of information about the bus system in general.
We made it home just before the rain that had been threatening all day finally showed up. It must be raining on the unjust. It has been a very productive day, and the heavy rain is a sign (to me, at least) that we’ve done enough for one day. One more to go.
Day 6:
Moving Day. I checked out of the hotel before going over to Jim’s, so it was a little earlier start than normal. That paired with staying up too late watching previously undefeated Team USA give up a third and winning goal in the last seconds of extra time in the World Cup to Türkiye, who hasn’t scored a goal in two weeks, and the morning came too early. By the way, when did “Turkey” change to “Türkiye”? I usually use the Olympics to learn new geography, but the World Cup has done a good job of it this time. I didn’t even know there was a place in the world called Cape Verde until this World Cup. Pretty sure this is the only new one I learned. This time. I blame it all on the break-up of the former U.S.S.R. Not that that was a bad thing, but all those countries were re-named by the communist usurpers, then they tear down a wall and everyone starts with the new, or original, names. Who knows?
Jim and I set out for Clay’s one more time, using a different crossing and adding a stop. Jim took a wrong turn on a familiar corner and went almost a block out of the way before he realized his mistake. And, yes, I let him do it. Because of the whole “Back up and shut up” thing. He was safe the whole time and, as I’ve said a bajillion times before, mistakes are going to happen. The best cane travelers veer sometimes. So do the worst. And so do all the ones in between. It’s much better to figure out how to deal with it WHEN it happens, not IF, because it’s gonna happen.
And guess what? Jim figured it out on his own. Without my intervention at all. He got back on track by 1. Not panicking 2. Keeping his feet still and using his cane, and 3. Listening to traffic. Seems simple, and it kinda is, but if you’re a cane traveler and you get turned around, if you can keep calm and think through what you hear, see, feel, even smell, you can probably figure out what to do next. At least the next right thing. You put a couple of right things together and you’ll get back on track pretty quickly.
We made it to Clay’s, but it wasn’t pretty. Jim wanted to go back a different way so he could figure out how to find Dollar General, which is new to Hebron, and Jim’s never seen it. Literally. He did that, and stopped at Lulu’s for more pastries. This time he chose a lemon poppyseed zucchini bread. I still don’t get how zucchini makes good bread. It doesn’t make sense.
Photo Description: Wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants, Jim trails the grass line on his left with his cane. He holds a paper bag in his free hand, inside which is a fresh-baked pastry.
I mention the different destinations to which Jim traveled to make the point that he’s just living his life. He wanted a pastry, so he stopped at a bakery. He can walk to the bakery from his home any time he feels like it. This is a big deal. For 12 years, he’s been unable to hop in the car and go to the Dari Bar for a corn dog, but he can now walk there whenever he chooses. And do it safely. Just living his life. This is the part I enjoy the most. I really didn’t teach him that much, but I got to be present when he figured out he could do it. If nothin’ else ain’t groovy, that is, for sure.
Back at Jim’s house, we talked about book suggestions, listened to some of Jim’s poetry, and his homework. I gave him three things to do after I leave. 1. Practice 2. Practice 3. Practice. Pretty profound, huh? Repetition breeds confidence, and confidence breeds independence. He also has plans to start riding the bus to go places. This will be great.
I’m headed to Columbus tonight for what turns out to be a not-as-early-flight-as-I-once-thought. I hope you don’t hear from me again in this blog, because that would mean that something went awry. It could rain, but just as long as it only rains on the unjust. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be coming to you next time from Plover, Wisconsin where they’re currently Shaving a heat wave. I promise you, it will STILL be cooler than Texas. There’s also a great dairy farm store in the greater Plover/Stevens Point area. Feltz’s is a place I’ve visited before and I’m already making my grocery list. Cheese curds. Fresh ones. The kind that squeak when you eat them. OK. Enough of that. See y’all next time.
Written by Barry Stafford, certified orientation and mobility (O&M) field representative.