On Monday, February 29, 2016, I woke up almost completely blind in my right eye. Within a few hours I was in my ophthalmologist’s office. He confirmed I had suffered a huge retinal detachment, including the macula where vision is keenest. By noon I was undergoing a procedure to reattach the retina. Within the course of 12 hours I went from being almost blind to being able to see again.

There was a period of healing and blurred, distorted vision. For over a month, in my vision, was a huge air bubble that had been injected into my eye to hold the retina in place while it healed.  Both the injection and bubble were extremely disconcerting. But I got used to it and one day I noticed the bubble was gone.

Three short months later, the doctor released me from his care.

While I’ve always had an appreciation for my sight, I must say after losing vision for several hours, my gratitude deepened substantially. YES, I was blind and now I can see; not only with my eyes, but I SEE the world more clearly with my heart – that grew bigger as a result of growing my gratitude bigger.