Coping

Life and Living

By Peggy S. Harp

Hello to all of you, my name is Peggy S. Harp and I have Macular Degeneration, one eye is 20/200 and the other 20/400. So I’m pretty sight impaired and I have several other things wrong, but that is not what I’m writing about.

The fact you or I have a handicap is beside the point. We can still be very productive, not only for ourselves but for our loved ones and people we’ve yet to meet. Not to brag, but I am going to tell you what I’ve done since I was diagnosed with macular degeneration. I’ve been skydiving at age 65, white water rafting, and also traveled to Ireland, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and New York. In fact, I have traveled several different places in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. I have a place in Puerto Rico and some of my family members met me there. I traveled to Puerto Rico in a wheelchair by myself and I had a ball.

I’ve even written a book and published it [excerpts below], I still work at my business everyday and I am actually involved in several organizations. Does this sound like I’m handicapped? If it doesn’t, good! When I can’t see something, I say, “Sorry, I’m sight impaired.” I’m not ashamed it’s just a fact of my life. I’m also extremely deaf but when I can’t hear I think so what, it’s just another fact of life.

My whole point of sharing this information is to tell you that we can go on with our lives. We can be productive and we can and do have the right to live our lives to the fullest extent. It’s up to us, everyone will want to help, but you and I have to do it. Call the Department of the Blind or Handicapped at your State Capital, call the Macula Vision Rsearch Foundation, find out what is out there to help and if you need assistance ask how to get it. It’s up to you to get out of that chair and look for help.

The world and all its beauty is still there, we can usually see that tree, that flower, that sun and its sunsets. We can’t always see the faces of our grandchildren and we can’t read to them but we can tell them wonderful stories, we can talk to our friends and find that we have lost nothing in these friendships. It’s all up to you.

If you wish to talk to me personally, I’d love to talk to you. My office number is (800) 432-9282 and remember it’s a wonderful world with beauty and things we have yet to accomplish.

To Learn

I began to know myself
I am excited, elated, and joyous
I can go it alone,
stronger than I ever knew,
my depth of feelings
and emotions, deep and
reassuring
How wonderful to have this age
and have the time to learn
all this about ourselves

Reborn

Fall is here
Trees and bushes
are eye startling
in their beauty
Everything is dying
The awesome blaze of this
glory proceeds the death
All will be barren, dead stark
Black limbs will stand against
the backdrop of laden skies;
yet deep within the death
life still lives. It is but
at rest, but next year life
returns and all is reborn
over and over and over


About the author:

A lifelong resident of Lexington, Kentucky (except for seven years in Oklahoma), Peggy S. Harp is the self-employed CEO of Harp Enterprises, Inc., a business of printing and elections. Now widowed, she has raised eight children. She has been very active in professional organizations and community groups in her area, including the Printing Industry of America, the Lexington, Kentucky and US Chambers of Commerce, Christian Women’s Fellowship, and the Advisory Council for the Department for the Blind. In addition to writing, Peggy S. Harp enjoys painting, books, music, extreme sports, and traveling.