When I was in high school I got the greatest summer
job. I drove a car for a most wonderful lady who was blind and worked for the
state blind association.
Her name was Ann Porter, and he routinely visited blind
persons over a tri-county area. My mother had driven for her for several years,
but when I got my license and Mom began working at the local hospital, Ann
offered the job to me.
I would drive to her home about 10 miles from ours
every weekday morning. There we would leave and visit all day with a list of
clients she had in her records. Ann had been blind since shortly after birth
when she blinded by an illness. She was about 45 when I drove for her. She was
such a great person.
Her husband, Henry, was also great. About the same age,
Henry had been a truck driver when he was involved in an accident and lost his
sight. They had met after he was blind.
Ann had a large Braille book that had her records of
her clients I in it, complete with directions as to how to get there; which
side of the street it was on; what color the house was; did it have a walkway
with steps, and how many; plus the number of steps she had to take to get to
the house. These were just a few of the things she wrote in her book and
memorized.
She had a German Sheppard Seeing-Eye dog named Missy
who went with us. I loved having Missy around. I think she was even smarter
than Ann, but definitely me. Missy would know where we were going once turned onto
the street of the house. And she knew the steps and walkways as well.
I would drive about 5,000 miles each summer while I was
in high school. I would have continued when I went to college, but I got a
better paying and more convenient job as a janitor working for Bell Telephone a
block from college.
Yes, I was a lucky young man in so many ways. They were
wonderful people.
(Verdana 12)
No comments:
Post a Comment