My parents knew that no school in our area could teach a child who was blind. They also knew they couldn't educate me themselves. So, they had to do the unthinkable. They had to send me away to school before I turned 5 years old.

For me, spending my first 4 years as an only child, and then suddenly being placed in a dorm with about 80 other students of all ages, was not a life I was expecting. Back then, I didn't know what coping skills were. I had a lot to learn. Fortunately, my parents had taught me how to do exactly that. The question was, could I do it?

The school didn't give me a great academic education. There were people there, however, who taught me much about who I was on the inside.

This episode touches on some of the failures and triumphs I experienced along the way.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

As a very young child, you can only know your own condition. If you can't see, you don't quickly grasp the fact that others have something you don't have. It's even harder if you have light perception, because then people tell you that you can see. But, can you? This is the complicated story about how my parents who knew nothing about blindness, and I, who knew nothing about sight struggled to finally understand and deal with the situation.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

In this story, my grandfather and I walk through my grandparents' apple orchard. In part, this is a sound painting of events that took place in the orchard each time I was there. People say that a picture is worth a thousand words. How many words does it take to describe a special sound, a special time, and the partly unwanted life-changing wisdom I learned among the apples? I kept being drawn back to that place. It wasn't just to hear the sounds. It was also to search for what I remembered and longed to change. I dedicate this episode to my grandfather: a man who was wise even beyond his many years. I wish you had known him. Perhaps when you finish this story, you will have some idea of the man who was my grandfather and also my friend.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

It all started with ear-hand coordination and Daddy's faith that I could do what some thought impossible. No, it's not the normal way one acquires a recorder. Even so, that was the day my knowledge and enjoyment of sound changed forever, and I changed right along with it. Just another story that goes way beyond the telling.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

It started with a simple childhood game of ball I played with my grandparents. My Mom and Dad kept improving the game. Slowly, it became less a game, and more a way of life.

From this game and other fun times with my parents, I discovered I could use my non-visual senses to create a mental image of my surroundings. In a way, it was a transition from blindness to Sight. I learned to use this image to understand where I was in any given space without ever using my eyes to see the objects and people that might be in the same space. It may be as close to normal vision as I will ever have, but it has allowed me to See, in my own way, and to be totally unafraid of the dark.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

For a year or so, around age 12, I had often played by an old abandoned well. I would throw stones or other things into it to see if I could hear them hit the bottom. I could hear the echo from the well if I spoke into it. I could smell a strange but rather pleasing odor coming from it. I kept being drawn back to it to learn more. I just couldn't stay away.

There is a lot more I could say, but who wants to give away all their secrets. Just come along with me, and you will discover them just as I did.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co

How does a 6 year old blind child safely walk almost any place he wishes before he learns to use a cane?

How would you do it if you were somehow prevented from seeing the ground in front of you? How would you know what your foot would land on next? What if it's a flight of steps? It might be a rock that moves under your foot. You could be stepping into a pool of slippery mud. How would you keep from falling?

If you're blind, you need to figure out how to deal with these and other similar situations. Who knew that fishing trips would be my answer?

So, come along with me. Put on your fishing garb and prepare to get wet. The water is nice, and there's a lot to discover.

Find out more at https://stories-that-change-our-lives.pinecast.co