Blind Date

Rick and Alisha have become good friends.  Even though they live about a mile and a half from our  down town park, they walk there getting exercise for themselves and their dogs.  I followed them taking pictures once for I felt that there was a painting to be done.  It was only when they stopped and sat on a park bench with both of their companions beside them that I saw the pose that I wanted.  You see, both Rick and Alisha are blind, and their companions are seeing-eye dogs.  It was amazing to see the way their dogs worked especially around stop lights and intersections.  Rick and Alisha’s other senses are far superior to ours, as evidenced when I took Rick home one day from the vet's office which was about four miles from his house with several stops and turns.  As we passed the last turn to his house, he said, "Richard, I think you missed the turn."  He was right.  Rick said to me once, "I wish you could see what I hear".  I suppose he heard the correct turn.  Rick has been blind since he was 29 years old so he has visual memories but  Alisha, his wife, has been blind since she was two; she dreams in sentences.  She is an amazing lady who has earned her doctoral degree in sociology, and is presently taking sculpture classes, making models of things she has only felt.  What a wonderful couple.