Yesterday
was a great day. Lyle and I were in Hanna to join their annual Walk Towards
Independence. My friend, Janet has organized and promoted this fund raising
walk for the last number of years and this year’s walk was another success.
Janet is a faithful and dedicated advocate for CNIB and for people with visual
challenges. It has been just over a year since Lyle and I walked in Hanna as
part of the White Cane Connections project and it was fun to meet some of the
people who had walked with me then and also to find new acquaintances.
One of my
special memories of walking in Hanna was meeting Florence. She was the oldest person who walked with me
on my cross Canada walks in 2012. At the
time, I remember her asking me if I intended to repeat the walks in the
following year. I laughed a little at
her question, but wanted to know why she had asked. She said that in 2013, she
would be 100 years old, and that would really be something to write home about!
Last year I
was astounded that Florence was 99, and this year I was even more astounded
when she walked again, raising awareness for people who are either blind or
partially sighted. Florence, you are amazing and I feel privileged to have
walked with you.
On yesterday’s
walk, I also met Theo. Theo is a young man with very low vision. As well as
participating in the walk, Theo had been active beforehand in gathering sponsors. In fact, Theo won the prize for raising the
most funds for CNIB that day.
I really enjoyed
visiting with Theo and his family. At
one point in the conversation, Theo’s grandmother told me what a big help Theo
was around the Blue Sky Colony. As well
as attending to his usual chores in the barn, Theo often assisted in the
community kitchen fetching items that were needed for meal preparation. Then
Grandma added a proviso to this comment saying that it worked well for Theo and
the cooks as long as everyone remembered to put things back in their usual and
proper place.
I really had
to smile at this comment. I have enough trouble in my own small household when
things aren’t where they should be. It
is not only a matter of training Lyle and anyone else who happens to be in the
house, but one of reminding myself to always adhere to the motto of a place for everything and everything in its
place. When you don’t see or don’t see well, it is very difficult, if not well-nigh
impossible, to begin a successful search for a misplaced item.
So, as you
can see, yesterday was a great day with many reminders of last year’s project,
and I haven’t even written about one of the bonuses from this year – there were
no mosquitoes! Last year in July the
mosquitoes had just hatched and they were especially vicious and plentiful.
Yesterday was hot and instead of insect repellant we were able to use
sunscreen.
There are
two pictures with this post:
The first
picture shows the group of Hanna walkers.
Janet is on the far left, holding her white cane. Theo is second from the right, standing
beside me. We both have our white canes
in front of us. The CNIB banner was
brought by Susan (CNIB staff person from Medicine Hat) who is standing fourth from
the left.
 |
| Walk Towards Independence participants |
The second
picture shows me standing beside Florence.
 |
| Sue and Florence |
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