Package in the Mail: Priceless

Oh. My. Gosh.

My girlfriend Judy's daughter, Shannon, has become a good friend as she grew into a beautiful woman. I have enjoyed our friendship over the years. I have especially enjoyed knowing Shannon since she was little.

She was a toehead blonde, spunky, inquisitive, bouncy like Tigger, ready to jump right into whatever we were doing. (She also was a "rocker" like me....private secret.) The only thing that bothered her too much was driving in a car. To this day, Shannon is pretty much that same person - only now she takes meds before going on a road trip. Oh, and she is blind.

She lives about 1½ hours drive away from Santa Barbara, California. There is a blind institution in SB. Since Shannon can't drive, she did take a bus to attend classes given for the blind. Unfortunately, this year, funds were lost and the bus stopped running. Shannon got creative. She enlists help from friends and her mom and gets rides to a neighboring city then hops a public bus to SB. I don't know how she gets from the bus stop to the school, but she does it.

I have to explain that Shannon is not what most folks would call "normal" because she is nocturnal! At least I think she is....she stays up way past my bedtime and sleeps way past the time when my feet hit the floor. I'm not sure if that makes her nocturnal or not, but it sounded fun.

In other words, for Shannon to get out of bed before the sun comes up is a major deal. She does it in order to make the trip to SB. I have to ask her how long the trip takes with the way she has to travel. I know it is way over 90 minutes. Bless her sweet heart. She is a trooper!

Okay, now that you have some history of me and Shannon.....imagine my surprise when this HUGE box arrived from UPS. I started to open it and Jack said, "Um, you have to call Shannon first. She wants you on the phone when you open it." Silly me didn't even look to see who the package was from, I just saw my name on it and started opening the box.

I called Shannon and after much bubble wrap and tons of peanuts, I opened this most beautiful sailboat that she had made in one of her ceramic classes. She made it just for me. I can't believe she is blind. This is stunning. I couldn't make it with my eyes in working order let alone if I were blind.

She is amazing.

My sailboat is amazing.

Shannon, you rock!