EYES and GOOD-BYES

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
Henry David Thoreau

I only had about 9 years of acuity, before the 5th grade
blackboard got fuzzy. Glasses & contact lenses have been
a blessing for almost 50 years.
What did people do in the middle ages???
---you can only squint so long.
These 58 year old eyes underwent Lasik-interlase
at The Lasik Center ten days ago.
www.tlcvision.com/centers/rockville
The same place & doctors that treated Tiger Woods.
It has been a slow heal…each day better and better…
Though some told me I would see perfect by Day 2,
my eyes are still adjusting to the change…
At certain ranges of vision it can be a little blurry.
Nevertheless, I stand amazed at being able to
awake in the morning, look out my window
and see trees with leaves!!!
Not green blobs!!
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I had my first driving experience since surgery...
Last Tuesday---on the beltway---
With Chung Hae---late at night…
In retrospect---WHAT WAS I THINKING??
Though I could see the lanes & traffic around me---
I depended upon Chung Hae to shout out orders---
“turn here….exit here…get in the right lane…”
We did indeed arrive home safe & sound---
Well, SAFE, anyway.
Chung Hae wondered as people drove up next to us,
looked in the window, saw a squinting blonde lady
with an Asian woman shouting directions at her…
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??
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This would not be the first time this
blonde middle-aged lady has leaned on that
Asian woman for advice and counsel. In fact,
the beltway incident only epitomizes our friendship.

There is an old adage that—
“A REAL friend will tell you when your face is dirty.”
Chung Hae has been that kind of true friend to me.
She has taught me what it looks like to be transparent in
confessing her own sins & seeking humility in her relationships.
She has walked me through sin issues in my heart
and prayed for me as I have faced things about myself
that I know the Savior wants to change in me.
Saturday morning she flew out to Florida to join John, who
is already working God’s miracles at Mayo Clinic.
I know that is where the Lord has moved them.
And I know the Lord will bless us all with this transition…
But I cry anyway.
I will miss not having her 2 miles down the road.
I will miss our talks, walks, eating out, eating in,
watching videos, our Wednesday prayer times,
and all the laughter we've shared!!

I thank God for our friendship.
And I thank God that he invented cell phones
And airplanes and e-mail!!

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“It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell
your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot
bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth
through loving words, that is friendship.”
Henry Ward Beecher
God Speed Casler Family
You will all be missed.