September 17 - St. John’s, NL

Monday morning dawned with blue skies and sunshine. It was a beautiful day for the final walk – yes, the final walk. Number 80!  I must admit to a slightly odd feeling about this. In some ways, the walk of this morning felt no different than others we had done. The people were lovely, the conversation focused on the same issues surrounding sight challenges and the walk itself was pleasant. Yet, here it was – six months minus six days and the end was here.

First, I must thank Duane Morgan from cnib for his hospitality at the St. John’s cnib office. It was good to meet some of the cnib staff. I enjoyed chatting with Jason, and hearing Debbie talk about the beginnings of Vision Health month in Newfoundland and St. John’s. She made some very good points when she explained her vision of this month, when the focus should be on an awareness of the services provided by cnib. Setting aside the month of May is an excellent opportunity to do this. 

I also had a chance to walk and talk with Elizabeth, Bill and Don, each of whom are CNIB clients but who are also members of the St. John’s CCB Chapter.  Elizabeth was especially excited that she had recently competed in the blind/visually impaired lawn bowling event at a national level, had won a gold medal in her category, and is now qualified to go to the international competition in Worthing, England next summer. She and Bill had both travelled to Australia for an international competition in 2009.

Don was also an advocate for blind sports. In fact, he is the coordinator of VIS/SUAL. The full name of this group quite adequately explains its goals - Visually Impaired Seniors/Students Undertaking Active Lifestyles. 

The walk today did present a few challenges. Light posts on narrow sidewalks made for challenging passage. Damp leaves left over from Hurricane Leslie and further rain interfered with the sweep of my cane, as did older and uneven sidewalks. One of the neat things was an audible traffic signal, unlike any I have heard before.  We crossed a busy street just down from the cnib office at a pedestrian crosswalk. When the button was pressed, there was a very loud buzz, almost like a loud alarm clock, which signalled that it was safe to cross. 

So, although the walk this morning was the last one, in many ways, it was similar to many others. We did have a photo opportunity with the red ribbon I have carried with me since Bill Conway presented it to me in Sechelt, BC last March, but I have decided that this red ribbon needs one more final celebration. I hope that you can wait until the next post to read about this! The picture below shows the St. John’s group at the beginning of the final walk. Elizabeth, president of St. John’s CCB is on my left, and Duane, director of the St. John’s cnib office is on my right.