A Wrinkle in Time: What Madeline L’Engle Understood About Blindness

I recently saw the motion picture premiere of Madeline L’Engle’s infamous A Wrinkle in Time, and was reminded of the rich wisdom enclosed in this childhood classic. I first read this story at age 10, during a time when I already knew there was something different about me compared to kids my age. I felt an immediate connection to the characters in this story, especially Meg – stubborn, caring to a fault, and easily angered by questions that didn’t seem to have concrete answers.

As I re-read this story with my daughter recently, I was struck not only by all the familiar characters and riveting plot lines, but also by the many morsels of wisdom that had escaped my memory. Especially one involving blindness. Continue reading “A Wrinkle in Time: What Madeline L’Engle Understood About Blindness”

Rising Strong: A Joint Effort

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Joy and Jenelle laughing and holding hands at Aliso Creek Beach in Orange County, CA.

Loyal, lovely readers, our apologies for the scarce posts in recent months.  We’ve received emails from some readers checking in on us, and we appreciate your encouragement.  You, our courageous tribe, are why we will continue to write amidst bustling schedules.  And we thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to stop by Doublevision blog.

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Joy and Jenelle’s young children smiling in front of a fountain.

We are actually writing this post together IN PERSON, as Jenelle is visiting Joy in sunny SoCal for a couple weeks. Our kids are getting lots of cousin time building sand castles and soaking in Vitamin D while we catch up and enjoy our time together.

Today we’d like to loop back to a topic that everyone LOVES to talk about (insert sarcastic undertone here). We’ve written posts on it and spoke on a podcast about it and its relationship to blindness. While it’s not something that most people deal with daily, it does have a way of Continue reading “Rising Strong: A Joint Effort”

Lessons in Decompression

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I have never been good at letting go. Tense conversations, goodbyes, friendship changes, job transitions, moves….all keep me awake at night far longer than it seems they should.
So it wasn’t entirely surprising when my plane touched down in Seattle 2 weeks ago, and I couldn’t immediately let go of real life to enter vacation mode.
I’ve been in this quaint, picturesque Bavarian-themed village in the Cascade Mountains since the beginning of July, and I’m only just starting to decompress. Prior to leaving for this trip, there were a lot of stresses at home and I pictured this serene, oasis trip in which I just played and played with my children without worrying about my typical daily to-do lists. I had this vision of myself, unplugged and ultra-present. Continue reading “Lessons in Decompression”

Saying Goodbye to My Grandma Jean the Queen

The call came at 3am Wednesday. Grandma is dying. She probably won’t make it through the night. If you want to say your final goodbye, you should come.

The lights at grandma’s house were dim when we arrived, and the air was heavy. Short, labored breaths rattled out of her lungs, sounding like a child with croup. She lay tucked under blankets in a hospital bed in the middle of her living room; my cousin leaning over her, inserting morphine tablets under her tongue to keep her comfortable.

Being on hospice for the past week, the call had not been entirely surprising, though she had been so alert and responsive the prior few days that we had thought it might be weeks until the end.  But here we were, in the middle of the night, beginning our final farewells.  Some family members sat perched on the queen-sized bed near her hospital bed, while others lingered on the couch in the adjoining family room, taking turns leaning over her and whispering words of love and gratitude. Continue reading “Saying Goodbye to My Grandma Jean the Queen”

Take it Easy

My grandpa Bob passed away a little over three years ago, and yet I still remember vivid details about him.  Like the way he would gently say “Easy now” to anyone acting a little too rough.  Actually, that was his response for a lot of situations – when his wife shouted bossy commands, when my siblings and I fought, when someone cut him off in traffic.  I can sometimes hear his soft words as if he’s still right next to me telling me to just take it easy.  And although I have so many other fond memories of my grandpa; I think that “easy now” is my favorite because it’s something that reminds me to calm down and be kind to myself and others just as he was. Continue reading “Take it Easy”

Drama Triangle

I vaguely recall learning about Stephen Karpman’s Drama Triangle in a general psychology class years ago.  I recently decided to take a closer look at the 3 roles Karpman pinpoints (persecutor, rescuer, victim) because I was feeling like I might be playing the victim role in some situations in my life.  I was trying to figure out why there are certain family/friends or even strangers who seamlessly offer me assistance in dark or crowded places and I feel no sense of shame or inadequacy.  I walk away from these situations feeling grateful for their assistance and yet still confident and independent.  While there are a few people in my life who awkwardly grab my arm and forcefully “guide” me in the direction they’d like me to go.  I leave these situations feeling stupid, embarrassed, helpless – a victim.  Rather than repeating these uncomfortable situations, I am trying to come up with new assertive ways to stay out of the victim role.

Simply communicating with people about my needs and preferences is key to avoiding victimhood.  Although I studied interpersonal communication as one of my majors in college, utilizing these skills can be challenging when it comes to RP.  I get nervous, I freeze up, I think all sorts of thoughts in my head, and cannot seem to effectively articulate myself.  I’ve started “rehearsing” various situations in my mind and with trusted friends.  I know the more I practice communicating my needs, the better I will become at reacting to or preventing awkward scenarios.  I’ve also spent time reflecting on past situations and what I liked or did not like about how I handled them.

In addition to taking a closer look at my own behavior in these scenarios, I also decided to learn a little bit more about the “rescuer”.  People that take on this role feel a strong need to help others, although their motives are often focused on their own self-esteem.  Now I am certainly not labeling anyone as a dysfunctional “rescuer” just because they’re eager to assist me when I’m having trouble navigating.  I’m not even entirely sure the drama triangle can be applied to the awkward encounters described above.  I am mainly trying to identify what these situations can teach me about myself and others.  After some careful examination, I have come to the conclusion that certain people just need a little extra assistance learning how to assist.  Sounds funny, I know.  But stay with me.

I think that the people who help me in forceful or awkward ways would choose a different approach if they could envision themselves with RP or any sort of disability.  I was touched by a story a friend told me recently about a photographer who wanted to know what it was like to live with RP after his best friend was diagnosed with the disease.  He made pinhole glasses for himself and wore them everywhere he went for an entire month.  The range of emotions he went through were very real, despite the fact that he knew he could take off the pinhole glasses at anytime.  I can’t say for sure, but I would be quite surprised if this photographer plays the “rescuer” role in life.

For me, one of the best ways to stay out of the dysfunctional darma triangle is to simply be aware of it.  Not every situation may play out exactly how I want it to, but I do have the power to be assertive and pre-emptive.  For example, at a family reunion this summer, everyone hiked down to the beach on the 4th of July.  I knew that I could make it down the steep rocky hill by myself as long as I walked slowly and carefully planned each step.  I also knew that there were some family members that would feel too uncomfortable watching me walk at such a slow pace and that they might start quietly gesturing each other to help me.  So rather than creating a situation that made me look or feel like the “victim” that needed a rescuer, I chose to simply ask an aunt if I could grab her arm on the way down.  I’m not sure if this was the “right” solution.  I don’t necessarily think every situation has a “right” answer because it’s different for everyone.  Someone else may have grabbed their cane or a walking stick from the woods nearby and announced “Just so everybody knows, I will be making my way down to the beach using this stick!” thus maintaining independence and settling onlookers potential fears.

Looking at the various roles in the drama triangle has been a real eye-opener (hee hee – I love those eye puns) for me in all areas of my life – not just RP.  I am able to recognize situations and relationships where I have taken on the roles of persecutor and rescuer.  Sometimes breaking out of these roles is as simple as investigating our own motives.  We all have control over our own words, actions, and choices.  We have the power to break out of any of the roles we’ve allowed ourselves to step into in the past.  I came across this quote that I think says it all for me in my struggle to stay out of the victim role with my vision.  “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they are yours!” – Richard Bach

Moving Forward: And All These Privileges

It’s been a rough few months.  Our entire family took turns suffering from everything from the stomach flu to pneumonia, I went through a miscarriage and bad reaction to anesthesia, and we moved from my in-laws’ house (where we lived for 8 months.) in the middle of it all.  Oh, and did I mention that my husband is in ministry? . . . And given that this all was happening right before Easter, his schedule was pretty crazy.

So this move — though it occurred at a difficult time — was a move forward.  If you’re wondering how this relates to RP, I’ll give you a little of the back-story on why we chose to Continue reading “Moving Forward: And All These Privileges”