People to Love and Dishes to Wash

I do not pretend to know a lot. Most days, Google is my go-to for information that I feel I need to know at any given time. What an advantage we have to be able to click and check, often with numerous sources to verify just about anything we need to know.

What I know about macular degeneration

My knowledge of macular degeneration is not very vast. I know what I am personally experiencing and where my journey has taken me thus far over the past two-plus years. My visits every six weeks (or even more spaced out) give me the important data to live by, and I have put my trust in modern medicine to help stave off any regression of my vision. Beyond my lived experience, and what a quick Google will tell me, I do not know much more about this condition that so many struggle with.

What is next

I believe that most of us are always thinking ahead, wondering what the future holds for us. It is probably a natural thought process in life. As young people, it is quite natural to look ahead and ponder what is out there. Where do you fit in? What will your course in life be? Where will your future life take you? What is really ahead?

An “advantage” to be older is having worked your way through that process. At least, that’s how it has been for me. I’ve been married for 36 years, raised 4 children, worked while maintaining a busy household, leading up to my retirement years. Enjoying this time in life, where thankfully the future course is not up in the air, but mostly lived, was supposed to be a good, happy, stable lifestyle, full of good health and happiness.

The diagnosis that changed it

The surprises that life puts in your path can throw you off, the surprise diagnosis of vision degeneration especially so. Where certainty and comfort was once a treasured fact of life, now comes the uncertainty of the future.

Will I be able to function and continue to enjoy these retirement days that I have come to love so much? Will I become a burden? What kind of future lies ahead for one so visually challenged?

Adjusting to this new path has taken some time, but I continue to work through the challenges. Working to continue with my favorite pastimes takes some adjustments. But every day I push through it and have been able to keep at it. Creating new art pieces with the same joy and excitement gives me hope for my future.

Love and dishes

“There are always people to love and dishes to wash.” Although I’ve not been able to pinpoint where I heard the phrase, no truer words have been spoken.

No matter what lies ahead for me, be it maintaining the vision that I have today or the potential to lose, even more, I know one thing. Through it all, there will always be people in my life to love and tend to unconditionally and inevitably dishes. There will always be dishes at the end of the day that need to be dealt with. Life goes on, one way or the other.