The subject line is taken from Reds Radio. Whenever the Reds win a game Marty says and this one belongs to the Reds. I thought it was fitting. I hate writing these sort of posts, because they take me so long to do, and stir up feelings and emotion. I was taking a break from Facebook do to it killing my battery and also just the annoyance of it. I find myself for the last few hours refreshing reading comments and thinking. Closure is hard to find on something so unexpected. To get to here let me start in the beginning.
When I moved to Muncie to attend Ball State I met Carlos. He invited me to his and his girlfriends house for a Christmas party. This guy named Denny was there talking about how he couldn’t order food from a website. Me being a smart ass I asked him what screenreader he was using and he said Jaws. I said that’s your first problem it works with Window-Eyes. Man we laughed about that comment for years. I don’t know why I said it, but it just came out. Denny and I would go on to talk for hours. Literally in college I would call him at 11 and we would end at 4 am. Blind people never sleep lol or at least it is a struggle.
Denny was a big baseball fan. Every baseball season during spring training we would pick who we thought would win the world Series and who would finish where in the division. I’m going to miss shooting the breeze. He was so excited about what the Reds were doing this offseason.
We started this tradition where he would come down and we’d watch opening day together. It started because one year the Reds played the Bats I think it was in 2013. Denny, Robin and I all went to the game. It had rained and was like 48, but the wind was blowing. The more we told the story the colder it was lol. Seriously though I froze, and Robin started shaking against my leg so I took off my jacket and put it around her. They played 7 innings and then called the game. I remember we’d get a pizza and sit and watch games. Usually we would watch the Cubs and Reds and than anything else that looked good. The last time he came down for opening day Abby made dinner for us. I think they had 3 games on a Sunday and then real opening day was Monday. I just remember the 3 of us sitting outside, because it was nice all playing dice world on are phones listening to the Yankees game talking about batters and anything else that came up.
I feel in life you meet a few people who help you become better as a person. For me not in any order it would be Carlos, Ethan, Phil, Steve, and Denny. Anyone of those guys I could talk for hours too and just be me. I had a lot of depression and anger I think looking back on it during my younger years and Denny helped me he understood. When I drank to much and had alcohol poisoning in college he understood and when I struggled with just being treated differently from piers he got it.
He was always a helpful guy. I was searching for an email for something unrelated and I found emails he had sent to me years ago. Some for assistance in switching screenreaders some just a link with hey we talked about this yesterday what do you think of this article? He also had a hearing impairment which he never really complained about. I always admired him for trying his best. Being blind and partially deaf had to be tough.
One time I met him and his daughter to see an art project she was working on. We were walking through the building and some lady said it’s cool you bring your son to these events. Not missing a beat Denny said I know thank you. From that moment on I’d randomly call him dad. He was about my dads age minus a few years so it worked. I think the last several times we talked he knew how much I loved him. Well I’d be proud to be his son, but I got to be won of his best friends so that is pretty cool.
Yesterday it was so pretty, and Abby and I went for a walk. I’ve been struggling to sleep lately my clock is screwed up again blind people suck at sleeping. I sleep when I don’t want to and can’t sleep when I do lol. Anyway after the Kentucky game I told Abby I was going to go sleep for a bit. About 11 she woke me up letting me know she had read Denny had died earlier in the day. It’s crazy I texted him about 8 this morning. It’s the funny thing about life is you just never know. Thankfully he didn’t suffer, but I talked to him recently. The Older I get the more I try to let people know you know what it was great hanging out or seeing you. I’m probably annoying or more emotional about it than I would normally be, but you never know when that last meeting will be. In my life as most I’d say I’ve had to say good-bye to early to friends to much it seems. Anyway I’m pretty emotionally tired of writing now. The funny thing is I just purchased a Jaws license Friday, and was going to tell Denny about it so he could have a good laugh. Thank you for all the memories, and I’m going to miss you my friend. Baseball won’t be the same without being able to call you, and complain about how they’re ruining the game. They don’t need clocks in baseball. Love you dad I hope this makes you proud.
I will leave you with one unrelated story. I got in a Lyft Friday to go to work, and the driver and I started chatting. He said last night at the women’s Louisville game the national anthem was so emotional. He said a blind kid about 8 years old belted out the anthem in all red in her Louisville gear. I said well I can’t believe her parents would lie to her she thought she had UK stuff on I’ll forgive her. He didn’t know what to say. Lol I love catching people off guard. On a side note the news reported that an 8 year old blind girl sang the anthem at the game. Why does the news have to put the fact she’s blind in the story? I haven’t heard her sing yet, but if it’s amazing then just let her be 8. I digress maybe one day.
seeingtheworldblind 