Rhonda,
It is an absolute shame that most of this generation of children
has such little respect for the parents who raised them.  Please
don't be ashamed of your feelings and attitudes concerning
Christa, since they are normal.  Her behavior reflects an
ungreatful, irresponsible character, which is probably just like
that of most of her peers.  She needs a lot of prayer.  The Lord is able to reach her when no one else can.

My X wife and I were blessed to be able to raise two wonderful
sons.  My younger son, Ben, has normal sight; and when he
turned fourteen in 1986, we were able to get a hardship driver's
license for him.  According to the license, he was supposed to
have at least one parent with him in the car, drive only during
daylight hours, and stay within a ten mile radius of home.  I had
a good job in those days; so I bought a new car for the family,
and I was able to afford the very expensive insurance.  Ben was
a very responsible driver; and as far as we know, he was never
ashamed to transport his parents or elder brother.  When Ben
turned sixteen, he, of course, acquired his regular driver's
license; and we were all happy for him.

My elder son, Sam, graduated from the Ohio State School for the
Blind in 1989, at the age of nineteen.  He wanted to attend the
Emil Fries Piano Hospital and Training Center in Vancouver,
Washington, which is just across the state line from Portland,
Oregon.  I asked seventeen-year-old Ben if he would be willing
to drive us out there.  "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously.
He couldn't believe that I would trust him on such a long trip!
We traveled approximately six hundred miles for each of four
days.  We spent three days out west, during which we saw
where Sam would be attending school, met the family he would
be staying with, and visited the Pacific Ocean.  Then we left
Sam; and the three of us made the twenty-five-hundred-mile,
four-day journey home.  We were proud of how extremely well
Ben handled the five thousand plus mile trip in every detail.
He had no other eyes to help him find gas stations, restaurants,
motels, etc..  The entire responsibility was on him!

That was the first of three major trips west I took with Ben, and
each of them by a different route.  Both Sam and he have grown
up to be very responsible adults, and they are both believers.
I thank God for my two sons; and sometimes I wonder how I'm
blessed with such wonderful offspring, when the children of
better christians than me turn out less well.
Dave
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rhonda Partain" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:08 PM
Subject: a parent question


Hi, have a question for all you visually impaired or blind parents with
sighted teens:
Ben and I bought Christa a car, a 200 Kooger about a year ago.  We have
payed the insurance until Ben started r3eceiving a Ssdi check for Christa,
he gave her part of the money and she payed her insurance with it.  We no
longer get the check for her since she is now 18.  The thing is, her car
recently had a lot of work done, a fuel pump which was 500 dollars,  I gave
her 180 and Ben gave her 100 she paid the rest from graduation money that
she got from friends and family.
Now...in the Fall we will both be going to the same college.  Jenna and
Austin are thinking of moving to  Carrollton the town in which the college
is located.  The college is about 13 miles from where I currently live.  So,
I asked Christa if she wouldn't mind if I rode in to college with her, I
would give her money for gas I get a millage allowance from rehab.  She said
that kids shouldn't go to college with their parents, and since I have
Bowers my guide dog I stick out like a sore thumb!!
I didn't want Jenna to have to come the 13 miles from where she will live to
pick me up only to go back to the college, it semed  foolish since Christa
and I were going to the same place.
I felt hurt, as though somehow Christa w4ere ashamed of me, instead of being
proud her Mom was going back to school and would be a junior in the Fall,
she doesn't want to be seen with me.  I understand that kids don't want to
be with their parents, but  do you think I'm being to sensitive?
I have decided that Ben and I will look for a h ouse closer to school.
There is a transportation service that only would help me with
transportation if I lived in Carrol County, so perhaps we can find a house
there.
Rhonda