A New Year's Wish - Let's YOG by Barbara Quinn

Here we are at the beginning of a new year, a year Nannette, Kat and I are proclaiming our Year of Gratitude (YOG for short). This is our YOG blog and
we are going to be giving thanks over the next 365 days.

January 1 is a perfect time to express thanks for all that has brought us to this point. I like to think that each day is filled with experiences that add to the building blocks that make up our lives. The end product is a crazy architectural structure, rather experimental in design, but charming in its own way. Sometimes the experiences are not pleasant. However even the unbearable parts are integral to the whole. During my sophomore year in high school I struggled with growing up and with growing blind. When I was fifteen, I began slowly losing my sight. Endless rounds of doctor appointments and medical procedures were wrapped around an active teenage life. It took a year to figure out what was wrong. Luckily for me, the problem was diagnosed and treated. My sinuses (still a bane of my existence) were pressing on a nerve and destroying my sight. I went through some gruesome procedures like having my sinus cavity broken through in the doctor’s office, while I was painfully awake, and having my tear ducts drained via a very long thin wire inserted into the corner of my eye, also while I was awake. I was left with half vision in one eye, and I see different colors with each eye, but the vision I have is my own, and it’s clear and good. I’m grateful for that sight and the way it colors my world. It was not easy to be patient and not easy to think about a future without vision. But I’m grateful for my eyes and for having learned at an early age how to deal with the uncertainty of life.

We hope you join us in this YOG. Happy New Year and Happy YOGging!