A Shining Star

 I think it is fair to say that Sarah is one of the most resilient and amazing people you will ever meet. She is a shining star in a sea of doubt and uncertainty. She is a beacon of light in a world that seems all wrong sometimes. She is beautiful and kind and thoughtful and wise beyond her 11 years on this earth. The grace and poise in which she is able to handle her illness is what honestly carried me through some of my toughest times since her diagnosis in May of 2013.

Right now, our Sarah is attending the National Federation of the Blind's state conference in Eugene, Oregon. She is currently attending classes with her dad at the convention on a wide variety of topics. Tomorrow morning at 10 am pst she will be the convention's guest speaker speaking about her experiences at the Bell Academy, a camp which she attended this past summer that focuses on Braille literacy. She has been practicing her speech all week. Trying to remember her lines and speak slowly and clearly. She wrote the speech all by herself asking for very little input from me. She did a great job.

 Bob will also be speaking at the convention. He is going to talk about the positive way in which the Bell Academy changed Sarah's life. How it has made her more outgoing and independent and how good it was for her to be in the presence of blind adults who were successful in their own rights at living their lives just as you or I would.

Sarah is also going to be able to meet up with a couple of the kids she met at the camp. One of whom is a 5 year old little boy who just adores her. He lights up when he knows that Sarah is nearby. His little face smiles from ear to ear and his soft little voice will call her name with such adoration it makes my heart melt. It is good for her to feel his love and to know that she is a role model for him. She is excited to be spending the weekend with her dad and excited to see the camp counselors again and also some of the kids she attended camp with.

I think that Sarah forgets, or perhaps doesn't even realize, how much of a role model she is to so many of us. She lives her life to the utmost of her ability and doesn't take things for granted the way you or I do.  She perseveres despite the mountains placed in front of her and climbs to the peak one step at a time. Things that you or I would crumble at the thought of doing she just does them with a quiet assurance that astounds me.

She doesn't let blindness tell her what she cannot do. Instead she tells her blindness what she will do despite the potential difficulties having no vision presents to her. Riding a horse? Check. Hiking? Check. Gymnastics? Check. Soccer? Check. (In the first few months of her disease she still played on her soccer team despite being in the beginning stages of losing her vision.) Ride a bicycle? Check. Cross the street on her own? Check. Read a book? Check. (In Braille, of course.)

 I truly believe that there is (just about) nothing she cannot do in the life. She will be whoever she chooses to be. She will do it with grace and dignity. She will amaze us all. And while she is living her life doing her thing she will be giving off a glow that only Sarah can. Her light will be shining for all of us to see. She is, after all, a shining star.

I have a feeling that this speaking engagement is only the first of many to come as she grows because she is such a beacon of Hope and such an inspiration to us all that others are going to want her to shine her light on them. Shine on, my love. Shine on.