[stylist] Sharing a Valentine story

Wed Feb 15 16:45:56 UTC 2012

Vejas,
 You're definitely in the minority to have parents who learned Braille. A
few years ago around the time of the bicentennial of Louis Braille, I wrote
a series of articles on the Braille literacy crisis for American Chronicle.
I interviewed a lot of people -- parents of blind kids, blind adults and so
on. There was one woman (a blind social worker from Michigan who is
home-schooling her sighted children, raising chickens and is very active in
her neighborhood). She told me not only how important it was to her that her
parents learned Braille, but that her best friend learned it and used to
pass her notes in class. What struck me at the time was how well-adjusted
(for lack of a better word) she was. 
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of vejas
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:29 PM
To: newmanrl at cox.net; Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sharing a Valentine story

It's a great story.
I have to say, I love the fact that Rich and Pam learned Braille.
I don't like the Hardys' attitude about not learning
Braille, but I believe that this is kind of a symbol of reality.  
My parents learned braille, but not many other students' parents 
do.
Still, very fun read.
Vejas
Original Message -----
From: "Robert Leslie Newman" <newmanrl at cox.net
To: "writers nfb" <stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:01:35 -0600
Subject: [stylist] Sharing a Valentine story

Hey gang, some of you have shared previous work and so here is 
something
that I wrote back in 2008, as one of my THOUGHT PROVOKER series 
(You'd have
to visit my personal website to catch the full meaning and scope 
of THOUGHT
PROVOKER- there are 154 of them all less than 700 words in 
length.  Back in
2008 I received one of the first Dr.  Jacob Bolotin Awards.

THOUGHT PROVOKER 130

To Braille with Love

Last Updated August 17, , 2008
First Posted- February 10, 2008

To Provoke Thought Is The First Step To Beyond

"Happy Valentine's Day!" chorused Sherry and Tom Hardy to the 
smiling couple
that was inviting them into their home.  The Hardy's and Pam and 
Rich, the
Andersons, were members of a support group for parents of blind 
children;
the Anderson's were longtime members and the Hardy's were new.

"Hey, how was the lunch on this snowy Saturday?" Rich asked.  He 
and Pam had
picked up Tom and Sherry's daughter Kathy and their own daughter 
Cheryl to
take both eight-year-old girls to a Valentine party, giving the 
Hardy's a
chance to go out for a romantic lunch and movie.  And now the 
Hardy's were
over for a short visit to the Anderson's, then it would be 
Hardy's turn to
pick up the girls, take them to their home, giving Pam and Rich 
their
opportunity to go out for a special dinner and dancing.

"Wonderful." answered Sherry.  "We took our time.  It's great 
that Valentine's
Day fell on a Saturday."

"You bet ya!" said Pam.  "Come on in.  I have a fresh pot of 
coffee on and a
plate of Valentine cookies Cheryl made special for us."

Seated in the kitchen around the family table, the two couples 
dug into
their coffee break.  "These are fantastic cookies.  Your Cheryl 
is a great
little cook," commented Sherry, raising a cookie for another 
bite.

"Knew I was smart to pass up the restaurant's dessert--love the 
pink
frosting." added Tom.

"Oh, let me show you her card." Pam said, getting up and 
detaching a card
from a clip on the refrigerator door.

"Whoo!" cooed Sherry, looking at and running her finger over the 
front
surface of the card, opening it to see inside.

"Huh?" exclaimed Tom.  "Braille .  picture and all?"

"Yeah, she made it herself." said Rich, obviously proud of his 
daughter's
handiwork.

"She used her Braille writer." said Pam, pointing.  "The border 
has full
cells down the sides, then dots 1-2-4-5's across the top, and 
2-3-5-6's
across the bottom, making an even two-dot border all the way 
around.  And you
can see the heart consists of full cells and parts of cells to 
get the right
shape."

"And she colored the heart, too.  So creative!" continued Sherry.  
"And this
down here?" Tracing with a finger, "Words, I take it?"

Retrieving the card, closing her eyes, Pam began reading with her 
right
index finger.  "I Love You Mom, Be My Valentine."

"Whoo, I'm impressed! With your finger no less." Sherry said, her 
face
showing a self-conscious mix of surprise and maybe guilt.

"Oh, Sherry .  guess we've talked about this .  parents learning 
Braille?" Pam
gave her friend a concerned look.

"Well yeah, Tom and me, our life's are just so...busy.  And, you 
know, with
this electronic age, we have a computer in just about every room 
and there's
voice mail."

Tom added, "my God, Kathy is a wiz on the computer, you should 
hear how fast
she has that voice cranked! These kids today they've grown up 
with all these
electronics."

"Rich." Sherry looked at Pam' s husband, her face showing that 
something was
still eating at her.  "Do you read Braille too?"

"Yeah, but I haven't gone so far to develop the tactual sense for 
reading
it.  I cheat, I read it with my eyes." Looking to his wife for 
any sign of
guidance, or a warning perhaps.  "With Cheryl's blindness, we 
feel supporting
and encouraging her lifelong literacy is ." Beginning to think he 
was going
too far with his pointed remarks.  "Ah, anyway, it's fun!"

"Tom spoke up, obviously not offended.  "Hey, so the card was for 
the Mom.
How about the Dad?"

"Oh!" both Pam and Rich chorused with big grins on their faces.

"Grab your coats, ladies and gentlemen!" said Rich rising.  "We 
need to step
out into the back yard."

Outside.  "Whoo, Whoo, Whoo!" hooted Sherry.

"How in the .?" Said Tom.  "Did you guys get a picture of this?"

Before them the white-blanketed yard spread to the fence and at 
its very
center lay a one-foot tall, six-foot across, very pink heart , 
with white
geometrical rows of dots on its top surface.  Walking up close, 
it was
evident that the heart was constructed of compacted snow and the 
white dots
were hand-formed snowballs arranged to create Braille letters.

"How did she get that snow painted pink?" Tom nearly stuttered.

Pam answered.  "A spray bottle and one gallon of red Kool-Aid."

Standing near the broad part of the heart, Rich pointed.  "This 
single dot is
a capital sign, followed by the letters in the word.  That makes 
her words
here, cap L o v e, cap Y o u, cap D a d.  Second line, cap I ' m, 
cap Y o u
r, cap V a l e n t I n e."

Robert Leslie Newman

President, NFB Writers' Division

Division Website

 <http://www.nfb-writers-division.net/> 
http://www.nfb-writers-division.net

Chair, Newsletter Publication committee

Personal Website-

 <http://www.thoughtprovoker.info/> 
http://www.thoughtprovoker.info

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