There’s a certain stillness in the air, even when all hell is breaking loose outside. I could hear a plow off in the distance and the freezing rain hitting the bedroom windows. But Julia was sleeping peacefully curled up against me and everything just seems as it should be. “Mother Nature’s going to do what she’s going to do and so are we.”
Eventually Julia did come out of her deep slumber and silently headed for the bathroom. I’m not sure she was running on all cylinders though. I say this because I’m pretty sure I heard her walk into the doorframe and swear under her breath just after the thudding sound that reached my ears.
When she came back to bed a few minutes later I asked, “Are you ok?” She said grumpily, “Oh, you mean that noise you heard? It wasn’t anything. I meant to do that.”
I reached towards her with one hand to touch her face and she brushed it away saying, “I’m fine. Go use the bathroom.”
So… I did. And… Yeah… I took my time. She was in a mood and I’m guessing she smacked her head, which was why she brushed my hand away. She didn’t want me to touch her face. I’ve been there myself and totally get it.
When I was done in the bathroom I walked over and sat down on the love seat for a few minutes. I figured it might be a good idea to give her a bit of space. Of course, half a dozen blind jokes came into my head.
But… Given the early hour and her state of lethargy… Yeah… I’m blind. “But I don’t have a death wish.”
Yup. It seemed like a good idea to save the one liners for another time. After a few minutes of hearing no movement I headed over towards the bed. As I came within a foot of the bed I felt a hand reach up and take mine. I just stood there holding her hand for a moment and waited.
Finally, I felt a gentle tug; her pulling me in a way that indicated where she wanted me to be. And… As I slipped between the sheets she said in a small voice, “It hurt a lot.”
I said, “It sounded like it.” She then said, “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”
I chuckled and said, “I’ve walked into many inanimate hard objects in my life time. I get it. It hurts, especially when it’s a corner of a doorframe smacking the upper eyebrow towards the outside of your face. A lot of the time that area bleeds like a mother, too.”
She pulled me close to her and said in a shocked voice, “How did you…” I cut her off with a kiss and then said, “The sound plus your mood after. I’ve been there and worn the t-shirt.”
She then kissed me back deeply for a long moment. Then she kissed me again and breathed, “For a guy who can’t see anything, you certainly do see a lot.”
The rest of the time after that was history. When we finally got out of bed an hour later, Julia said to me, “I’m doing all virtual sessions today from here. Given the way things look and sound outside… Well… I’m glad I’ll be working near you today. Does that make sense?”
I gave her a one arm hug, and nodded, careful not to spill my hot coffee on her as we kissed. “How’s your head feeling,” I asked her. She giggled and said, “Not badly enough to warrant a trip to the Amen Clinic for a SPECT scan. The bleeding stopped, I don’t even need a band aid and my vision isn’t even fuzzy. Aside from feeling like a total ass every time I think about it… I’m good.”
“Thank you for understanding before. I didn’t mean to start the day on a bitchy note. Honest!” Julia said and then kissed me again before heading off for her first session of the day.
For my part, I learned a bit about Microsoft’s Windows Terminal after listening to an FS Podcast put out by Vispero about how it works with JAWS for Windows. Then I got down to the business of writing a few new posts for BrianSchnabel.com. I’ve been neglecting that site for a while. So… Doing some upgrades and writing for it was definitely in order.
Before I knew it 5:00 PM was here. But Julia and I felt good about how the day went; her asking me after a light dinner if I could be so good as to walk her into the bathroom so she could take a shower without hitting her head. She was laughing and joking about it when she suddenly stopped and very seriously said, “When you are walking with a sighted person do you ever feel like you are the visually challenged being led by the blind?”
I just looked at her with a blank expression. But she started laughing and through her arms around me and pulled me close so we were nose to nose and asked, “You know my love that I am a therapist right?” I nodded and she then kissed me lightly before slyly asking, “And you know us therapists are pretty good at reading people right?”
I then nodded again and she giggled and kissed me mor deeply before saying, “So you probably realize that no answer to a question is still an answer, right honey?” When I finally started to respond she cut me off with that long drawn out soft gentle shushing noise she makes when she doesn’t really expect a response or me to feel like I’m in hot water or something. And from that point on, “The night was all her.”
She is now sleeping peacefully and I’m looking forward to joining her. “It really has been a wonderful day.”