At My Fingertips

Raise your hand if you can remember being asked this question when you were in elementary school:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

The typical answers are, teacher, doctor, lawyer, astronaut, along with a host of others.

My answer as a child wasn't much different. I wanted to be a teacher. But who I wanted to teach was a bit more unique.

I wanted to teach "the blind." For some odd reason I was fascinated by Louis Braille. I even learned how to read Braille, and wrote to the Braille Institute several times. I would hand-write my letters and they would respond in Braille. It was so cool! I wish I still had them.

Unfortunately, my dreams took a different path as I got older and I never became the teacher that I had always longed to be. With the teaching dream went my ability to read Braille.

Then, a few weeks ago I was in my local Starbucks and saw that they had gift cards in Braille. I just HAD to get one. I didn't put any money on it...didn't even buy it with the intention of giving it away. I just asked the cashier if I could have one and off I went. Funny how something as simple as this little card brought back such a flood of memories, along with "what ifs."

What if I had stuck with my interest in Braille and had actually become the teacher that I'd dreamt of being as a young girl? How much different would my life have been?

Interestingly enough, for those who know me well and/or have followed The Dialogue Den since 2009, you know that I have "special eyes," and the ability to SEE each day is truly a GIFT that I never take for granted. I have to take special precautions with MY eyes that most folks don't give any thought to. Not many folks my age have ever seen a RETINA SPECIALIST. I have...more times than I care to admit.

I pray that these eyes will always be able to SEE what is before them, but just in case anything ever changes...thanks to Mr. Braille, I know that I will ALWAYS be able to READ.

Oh, and in case you were wondering...the letters on the card (of course) spell Starbucks. That first little dot by itself, way over to the left lets you know that the word is capitalized.

How 'bout you?

Let the DIALOGUE begin: What was YOUR answer to the 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' question when you were in elementary school? Did your dream/goal come true?

Talk to me!

Til next time...