What's that big letter at the bottom?

Recently I received my papers in the mail to renew my driver's license. In this state, if you have a vision impairment on your license, you must have your eye doctor fill in a form and sign it so you can send it in with your license form. It's more efficient I suppose than what other states do. Most of them have an eye chart they ask you to read. The thing is, you're in line so long that you can actually memorize the chart by the time it's your turn with the clerk.

Not that I ever saw the need to do that. I've been vision impaired since I was eleven years old. One day I could see fine. The next... boom! "You need glasses." Back when I was eleven years old, glasses were not cool. I mean they really weren't cool.

You remember those cat glasses? Yeah? Well, that's what I wore. White, blue, I think I even had a pair in pink. Then in high school they were brown--almost like hornrimmed framed. Ugh.

Still, they were an improvement over the white frames. Now I wear wire frames--what we used to call "granny" frames. Appropriate, right? Back when I was finishing high school, people like the Beatles wore granny frames. So I guess you might say that now I'm retro.


Ah, well. Kelly tagged me. Nope, I'm not gonna tag anyone. Most of the people I know have already been tagged. So here's where you find Kelly.

Six things nobody knows about me. Hmmm.

First off, if I tell you, then everybody will know them. Doesn't seem quite right, does it?

1) I used to have a photographic memory. I never had to take notes or any of that other junk.

2) I had a stroke and shazzam, it was gone. Strokes are not fun. Take your blood pressure meds!

3) When I had my stroke, I forgot how to tie my shoes. My granddaughter taught me. She was a lot more patient than I was.

4) I also forgot how to make chili. One afternoon I was standing in the kitchen befuddled about the next step. I had allllll the ingredients out and had chopped all the vegetables. But I had no idea what to do next. My second son came along and asked what the problem was. "I don't know what to cook first..." I was nearly in tears. Very sensibly he asked, "Why not put it all in the pot and cook it at one time?" So I did. It was the best my chili's ever tasted. And that's pretty much what I've done ever since. Simplicity. I love it.

5) I used to read with a flashlight under the covers. I've always loved books and reading. I love them more than sleeping and eating--which is saying something. My kids were used to finding me in the kitchen holding a book in one hand while I stirred dinner with the other. Sometimes--oh all right, most of the time--dinner was a little scorched.

6) I love to paint. I don't paint well, but I enjoy doing it, so I do. I think we should all be free to do things we love whether we do them well or not. I think more people should sing just for the joy of it. More people should pick out Chopsticks on the piano because they can. People should hop or skip or ride horses just because they want to. So... I paint.

How'd I do?

anny