True Vision

Memories of Cassie~ German Shepherd/Husky mix 1983

She lay comfortably just inside the sliding door which stood open, looking out, responding to sounds as if she saw them. She had adapted perfectly to my world and my ways. What once had been a frustration to her, had now become nothing more than an inconvenience, a barrier to sight as you and I know it, but a window into things unseen.

The sliding door opened onto a deck which had a solid wall that stood 3 1/2 feet high. As a puppy, she had struggled to rise above that wall, expressing her frustrations as a caged animal. Today, she lay calmly, looking, not up toward the sky where an occasional bird would steal the stage against a setting sun in the evening air, but straight ahead in response to sounds. It had the effect of making her look as if she truly looked directly at all she heard.

She no longer struggled to see, except an occasional stroll over to the wall, and a full extension of her, now 4' reach, to remind her of what it was she imagined as she lay watching, with perfect focus in the direction of the sounds she heard.

Perhaps, as she lay watching, she still didn't like her functional blindness, being unable to see what lay beyond the wall, but there was no question that she had indeed adjusted to it and found peace and acceptance. She now had vision beyond what her eyes could see.

There she lay, where once she would have heaved a sigh and plopped her head down in frustration, watching the evening intently, enjoying the cool air that was alive with sound and devoid of picture.