Today I'm thankful for free advice and free tamales. Panels at Carleton are always a wonderful resource, and I definitely did not make time for enough of them while I was a student, but today I got to go to one on careers in social justice (and as that is the path I am looking at, it is always beneficial to hear about others' experiences) and then a dinner on healthy relationships and how to be a supportive friend when you have a friend in need. I am thankful to always be learning, and I am thankful that Carleton will still feed me once in a while. This is truly such a supportive network with so many people wanting to help the student body and alums as well, and I am blessed to still be connected.
I'm thankful to have been able to be there the past couple days for my friend who is recovering from a recent eye injury. How worrisome it could be to not be able to do your readings for class, see the board, watch class performances and to rely on friends to walk you to class and to meetings in the winter weather. We are all thankful that it is just a temporary blindness but that she is not wallowing in it but using it to think about her world in different ways. It is actually amazing that this is my friend who has pursued choreographing a modern dance to convey what it would be like to be blind, and she just so happens to be struck with temporary blindness while she is still involved with this project. I have seen that it already has made her pay more attention to her other senses and, as awful and real as her pain and light sensitivity have been, it will perhaps be a blessing for her to connect with her dance in an even more tangible, personal way.
I am thankful to be my friend's seeing-eye friend.
It also made me realize that while I have a few friends who have some learning disabilities in terms of focus or dyslexia, etc., I do not have any friends who have a permanent physical disability such as blindness or deafness. I will never fully understand what life is like for someone who lives with a permanent disability, but seeing my friend have to adapt in ways such as counting the number of steps from her room to the bathroom and depend on others for assistance has in turn caused me to ponder what it would be like to adapt to what is "normal." And I am thankful that I was born with a body that most of the time does what it is supposed to and that I have never experienced a handicap or disability. I hope we can be mindful and be humbled by how others in our communities and world who have been handed a tougher set of cards adapt and do what they need to do.
I also got a random email from a man from my church today who found a possible writing opportunity and thought of me, so I am so thankful once again for my church community and for people who are looking out for me. He noted and apologized in his email that it was short notice because the application is due tomorrow but I'm thankful I had time to crank it out today, drawing from the body of other applications and writing I have done!
While I may have procrastinated on other responsibilities today, I am thankful that I can sleep tonight and take care of them tomorrow.
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