Dandelion Bouquet

To continue a theme of “coming out of the dark,” I have to share my Roomie’s post with you today.  But let me first introduce you to my Roomie.

Pepper and I met through some collaborative freelance work last year, and jokingly took to referring to each other as “roommates in a padded cell.” We even drew up our own little padded-cell logo–and the blog she launched around the same time is titled “Kickin’ Back in the Padded Cell.” Pepper is a talented writer, a hilarious human being, a kick in the pants–just the kind of person to fit the name Pepper…  And she’s also legally blind.

Or she WAS, until this month.  She just underwent eye surgery, and she is rediscovering the visual world.

When she and were I talking just before her surgery, I was wheedling and poking at her to write about this journey–but I initially got a pretty hard push-back. She’s a fiction writer and a political writer, and (unlike someone we know who lets EVERYTHING hang out for public viewing, cough cough) she doesn’t write about her personal life even on her blog. Somehow, though, I convinced her to give it a go.  (I’m sure it’s my talent for gentle persuasion. Right. That’s why she thanked me for pushing her off a cliff!)

She has been adding installments to her “Secret Journey” series–bit by bit, because she can only spend small amounts of time at the computer right now. But every one of her mini-stories blows my mind in one way or another. The things that we-who-can-see take for granted, the myriad of ways in which she managed to remain fiercely independent while she couldn’t see, and the perspective now of a return to Sight…

This is a can’t-miss Journey, guys.  And so, without further ado, I shall proceed to push my privately-inclined Roomie off yet another cliff by sharing with all of you the “Secret” of her blogging story-in-progress (and Journey-in-progress)… And when you read this morning’s installment of her story, you’ll know why I’m sending her this virtual dandelion bouquet.