I’m going to take today’s Daily Dose to share a little story that really makes me proud and I think you will agree I should be.
We have a family friend that we have known since back in the early 1990’s, this woman we met through our business we owned at the time. Ruthie was a school teacher that worked with special needs children up until the end of last school year when she was forced to retire because of her eye sight. Her vision has been failing her for the last five years and it finally got to the point she could no longer do her paper or computer work.
Her eye doctor had told her that she would eventually end up being blind. When she shared the information back five years ago with us, my girls were 8 & 5 years old. Blondie, who was 8 at the time, asked if there wasn’t something we could do to help her. Our friend told my daughter “You can teach me Braille” and then just kind of laughed jokingly.
Well Blondie didn’t laugh and she took our friend seriously. Next week Blondie and Shorty will start teaching our friend Braille, that’s right, teaching Braille. The last four and half years the girls have been learning Braille and studying how to teach it. They used birthday and Christmas money to purchase a little machine that types in Braille three years ago and have become very proficient at reading Braille.
They started out with books in Braille from the local library, to learn the alphabet and have progressed from there. They will take turns typing messages in Braille and then pass them back and forth to read with their eyes closed, using only their sense of touch in their fingers. Blondie took on the role of being the teacher and used her younger sister as the student.
We see Ruthie at least once a month, and my wife talks with her on the phone every few days, but this project the girls had undertaken was sworn to as a family secret and never discussed with Ruthie. On Tuesday my wife and girls picked up Ruthie and took her to lunch where the girls informed her that she was now going to be their student. According to my wife, Ruthie broke into tears that the girls loved her so much as to dedicate their time, money and effort in order to help her.
With the addition of Braille my girls are proficient in three languages now. The funny part is only one is a spoken language, English. My wife is very good at sign language and all of our children have been signing since before they could speak.
So, if it sounds like I am a proud father of great young girls, mission accomplished, because I am.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
That is such a beautiful story, and a most wonderful thing your daughters did! Just reading it brought tears to my eyes, too. You are raising some very special young ladies!
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Thank you Tiffany,
They are both in girl scouts and they are trying to figure out how they can use their sign language & Braille skills to earn their major awards when the time comes. I can't wait to see what they come up for those projects.
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I definitely wish them well at it...!
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Bless them :) What a beautiful thing to do!
And well done on being able to sign as well as read Braille!
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Bless them :) What a beautiful thing to do!
And well done on being able to sign as well as read Braille!
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Thanks Lizelle, My wife gets all the credit on the sign language, the extent of my sign language consists of a clenched fist with a raised middle finger. i seldom even sign that anymore.
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@sultnpapper - Yours was the first post I read today and I'm glad I did. The world needs more Blondie & Shorty. Thank you! @vintage-k
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Thanks for reading and commenting. Both of them are very caring for others and animals, to the point that if a spider or fly gets in the house we have to catch and release them outside if they see them,
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Kindness is contagious, right? My oldest refuses to hang up on telemarketers, so now I make it my duty to call her a minimum of 5x at school (during lunch. of course) just because. ;)
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Any act is contagious. The problem is most acts people see are anything but kind. The news is always plastered with violence, maybe one story out of 100 is showing a positive act of kindness or compassion, unless it has to do with a police or firefighter being killed or injured, then they will run countless stories on how brave they were and how much they did for the community.
I don't know how it is in Canada but that is the way it is here. Someday I'll have to tell you the story on how I got thrown out of Canada and banned for life from returning.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
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