Houston, we have a problem...but today is truly a great day!

(Enjoying "Obama" cupcakes that one of Daddy's co-workers made and shared.)

Life...

Well we could never appreciate all the good in our lives if we didn't have some bad to relate it to. So in that regard we should always be thankful for the bad times too because without them our good times wouldn't be as good.

Suffice to say I've lost the sight in my right eye. When I close my good eye, I can barely make out any light at all now. Simple follow-up visit today apparently showed more retinal detachment and doc wants to do a third Vitrectomy on Monday. He was notably sad for me when he told me I probably wasn't going to ever see out of that eye again. This time he said he would put in an oil bubble instead of gas...but that stays in for 6 months to a year, then I could choose to have surgery to remove it and if I have any sight at all, it would likely be uncorrectably blurry. Which trust me, the few times I've had blur instead of complete vision impairment, it was actually more difficult to function. He said he would go ahead and remove the cataract lens, but not replace it since I wouldn't be able to see anyway. If I choose to have the bubble removed, we could replace the lens at that time.

We've decided that having the same doctor do the same procedure a third time and expect anything but the same results is a bit stupid...so I'll see another retina specialist in the morning. I don't expect the news to be different, nor do I expect him to be any better since everyone said I was already seeing the best...but I just expect him to be different. Maybe he'll get lucky and seal the hole that eludes my current doctor. Maybe not.

If I haven't shared my life motto with you yet, here it is: Hope for the best but expect the worst!! I adopted that motto when I was about 14 and have stuck to it ever since. That way I'm never really dissapointed and if things turn out better than the worst case scenario, then I am often pleasantly surprised.

So this sucks, but...my worst case scenario from the beginning was that I could lose my vision in that eye so I'm not completely devastated by any means. I'm hopeful a miracle might occur, just not optimistic. As far as how losing an eye will affect my daily life, I don't expect it to be all that much. I've had 5 months getting used to it. My chief complaints are that I have NO right side periphery at all and I have ZERO depth perception now. This is most notable when I pull into our carport trying to avoid the poles and I tend to park too far out because I think I'm closer than I actually am to objects. And I have a difficult time playing catch now. And as my mom pointed out, Fender's friends will probabaly always say I "throw like a girl." I just hope they don't say that I "throw like a girl with one eye." Ha.

Oh well...I am still thankful I have one good eye and I will just pray extra hard each night that nothing at all ever happens to take that one away from me.

So that is enough gloom on this wonderfully historic day! Today our first black President has been sworn into office. Looking around the world it seems so insanely small minded of us for this to have taken until 2009 and the same goes for our lack of having any true women candidates before this year as well. Bolivia, Argentina, Haiti, even China (1968-1972)and others have all had women Presidents and that doesn't even delve into all the historic ruling Queens.

Anyway, while I tend to think today shouldn't be so special just because the skin of our new president is different...you can look around any news story today and be reminded just how important it is. I am proud that in my life time I've never had to give much thought to a person's color or race. I was raised by parents who taught me that prejudice in any form is a bad thing. Racism has never been an issue for me, but even back as early as their generation, it was. My parents can remember going to the movie theater and having separate water fountains for blacks and whites and blacks had to sit in the balcony. Schools were segregated, but their generation helped to change that and integration began. For some reason it has taken our country a long time to make progress, but today is truly progress. And I am thankful that I am beginning to see a time where racial descrimination and prejudice can truly becomes a thing of the past. Today is truly a great day!