Family and Home
Auggie swept his cane from the left to the right and enjoyed the sunshine on his face, the chirping birds and the fine summer weather. Annie walked right next to him whilst his 3-year old son Jeremy was holding Annie´s hand. The park was almost crowded on a late Sunday morning. Families and couples were enjoying the first summer weekend some of them even had settled down on the grass for a picnic.
After a while, Jeremy pulled at Annie´s hand, stopped, looked up to her and asked "Mummy, why does Daddy walk with a cane?" Auggie turned his head towards his son, made a few steps into Jeremy´s direction, squatted before the little boy and said "I need my cane to get around. Do you remember that I told you that I am blind?" Jeremy nodded. And Annie said to him "You have to give your Daddy an answer" Jeremy was confused "But I have Daddy given an answer, I just nodded" he protested and pouted. Auggie smiled, but felt a little helpless, too because it was difficult to explain to a 3-year old what it meant to be blind. "Look, I am blind, I cannot see when you are nodding"
"What is blind?" Jeremy asked now. Auggie thought he had found a way to explain to his son what blindness meant and he said "Do you remember that we always switch the lights off when you go to bed?" Jeremy nodded again, but remembered seconds later what Annie had just told him "Yes Daddy and then it is so dark, that I cannot see a thing. And sometimes I am scared" Auggie had now taken the hand of his son and they continued walking. Whilst strolling through the park Auggie explained "So, if you know how it feels, when the lights are off at night, you know what it means to be blind" Again, Jeremy stopped walking and looked up to Auggie and said "But Daddy, how can it be dark for you when the sun is out?" Annie had listened to the dialogue of father and son and before Auggie could answer again she said "Daddy´s eyes are broken, he cannot see the sun, it is like he is walking with the lights off all the time." Now Jeremy understood. He squeezed Auggie´s hand and asked with tears in his eyes "But then you must be scared all the time Daddy, when it is always dark for you" Auggie had heard the change in his son´s voice and knew that the little boy was about to cry. He stopped walking, handed his cane over to Annie, took his son, lifted him up to his own eye level and tried to meet his son´s gaze. He hugged him tightly and said "don´t worry Kiddo, Daddy is not scared, not anymore. This is just the way I am and I am happy with my life even if I cannot see you, the sky or the sun"
Jeremy had snuggled into Auggie´s arms and enjoyed the warm embrace of his Daddy. But then he asked again. "But what is the cane for?" Auggie continued "When you cannot see, you have to feel for things. Do you remember seeing that I feel for the things on the table before I take them? "Yes Daddy" Jeremy replied. "The cane helps me feel, what is in front of me when I walk. When I use it, I will not bump into things and hurt myself". Annie had watched the scene between father and son and was deeply moved. Auggie was a perfect father. He knew how to explain things and that was not always easy. Being 3 years old Jeremy had just come into the "why and how" phase. He had started to ask questions like "Why doesn´t the sun shine at night" or why is milk white?" The typical questions of a child that wanted to explore the world. And every answer to a question led to a new question. Annie was sometimes at her wits end when Jeremy´s why, when and how questions did not stop. Auggie however, had a natural talent to explain things and to satisfy his son´s thirst for answers.
He could not see, but he had is very own way to show the world to his son. Auggie could not see the birds in the garden but he could hear them chirping. He explained to his son how to distinguish the chirps of a robin from that of a blackbird.