Hey Matt,
        Like I said to Sandy, my other three kids are fine with me as a
parent.  My being blind is only an issue with Chris.  Oddly enough,
however, I do understand where he is coming from.  When I was a teenager,
I myself was very uncomfortable with my blindness.  I hated carrying
around huge bulky books while my peers could slip everything into a
backpack.  I hated the fact that my slate and stylus made noise while I
was taking notes in class or that I had to either take my exams in
college oraly or in a separate room with a type writer, even in college.
I wished like anything that I could play vollyball.  I didn't like having
to sit on the sidelines while the rest of my friends did something that
sounded like a lot of fun.
        Some people would have just blown all of this off.  Maybe you
yourself were fine with being different, but I really resented it.  When
a lot of my relatives found out that I was getting married, the first
question that they would ask my parents was, "is he blind too?"  I just
hated that.  When I was a teenager I just felt like my blindness stuck
out there like a soar thumb with a huge white bandage on it for the whole
world to see and I didn't like it.  More then anything, I wanted to blend
in.  I've had to do a lot of growing up.
        All this is to say that, at least in this one area, I understand
where Chris is coming from.  I don't think that being angry or telling
him to just deal with it would help.  It wouldn't have helped me.  It
just would have made me feel worse and ununderstood, if there is such a
word.  Chris is really sensitive and he doesn't like sticking out either,
but he isn't always mean about my blindness.  He just wishes that I
weren't. I do realize, however, that if I weren't blind, he would
probably find some other defect to complain about.
Kathy the imperfect

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