Sunday, October 30, 2011

Family Life with RP

I have had the fortunate experience to grow up not only knowing my grandparents, but also knowing my great-grandparents. While my great-grandparents have all passed away, none of my grandparents have. While I should feel fortunate for growing up knowing all of my grandparents, there have been times when I have found myself finding my grandfather's impairment to be an impairment on my life. Let me explain what exactly I mean by that statement. RP has had an impact far beyond a loss of sight for my grandpa. He has bad knees and legs. In 1997, when I was only six years old, my grandpa had knee replacement surgery. While for sighted individuals, recovery is easy, for my grandpa, it proved to be difficult. He never fully recovered from the surgery and as a result, has had increasingly weak legs since that time. He has also had to have repeat surgeries and as he has gotten older, he has also broken both of his legs at separate times. As a result of all of these things, it has put a strain on our family. We have had to plan holiday gatherings around his ability to get into or out of a house, ultimately leading to them all occurring at my grandparents' house.

The one time where this intruded the most was at my 8th grade graduation. Right after the ceremony, rather than spending time with my fellow graduates and then with my family later on, I had to help my grandpa navigate through the crowd of people and then felt left out. While I was only fourteen at the time, it still was not a good feeling. Also, at every holiday gathering when my grandparents would come over, I would have to help my grandpa get into and out of the house. Now that he is limited to basically being at his house, I miss seeing him spend holidays and birthdays at my house. I know that he also doesn't like being limited in his own home. My grandpa has always been an individual that puts his family first. He told me all the time when I was growing up that no matter what, he would be at my high school graduation, and he was there. We have also repaid the favor. After breaking his leg prior to Thanksgiving last year, he spent time in a nursing home. We spent time on Thanksgiving there with him.


Just because you lose your sight, doesn't mean you lose your life. While there have been adjustments made in my grandpa's life, he has still been able to life it to the fullest extent all things considered. While he has not been able to see my brother or myself, he has been a major influence on my life. My grandpa has always told me to believe in myself, has wanted to watch me succeed throughout my life, and above all, has loved me from the bottom of his hear. While at times, life growing up with a blind grandfather can be hard, in the end, it has been a great, eye-opening experience that I wouldn't change for the world.

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