Be grateful that you aren't blind.

This is a very random thread (I'm not trying to get all sappy on the subject) but I felt like making it, so read if you wish, and if you don't care, hit the back button.

So I work at a hotel, mainly driving vans and doing front desk work etc. Only started a little while ago.

I had to pick a woman up from the airport. She was legally blind, and also had her seeing eye dog. She seemed like she had her life pretty well in order; she could get in and out of the van pretty well, and her sight didn't seem like the worst. So I basically didn't give a second consideration to the fact of what she has to live with daily, and I helped her bring her stuff inside.

Now this is where I feel like a lot of people stop when considering the blind. You give it the typical "yep that would suck" and not think about it again.

Then I had to pick up a man the other day, we'll call him Tim. One of the nicest guys I've ever met. Tim was 100% blind and had been all 60+ years of his life. He struggled to get in and out of the van.

I brought his luggage to the front desk and put it right next to him, and figured that would be alright, but he didn't have any idea where it was.

Guests also have to sign a receipt at check-in. We tried to point out where to sign, but Tim had his own little thing - a piece of plastic with a cutout, and the cutout is where he would know to sign.

I then helped him get to his room, and had to hold his arm the whole way. The whole way down it was quite hard for him, especially because the hotel is kind of oddly laid out.

We got to his room and he needed a way to figure out how to slide the key card in. He figured it out by finding the slightest bumps on one side of the card so he would know which way it would slide.

Then we went out to the courtyard where he took his seeing eye dog to do his business. However, Tim had no idea if the dog did its business, and Tim also didn't know what he himself was facing that seemed to have a step up (it was the concrete around a garden).

We got back to the room and I was about to leave, but he needed help with turning down the AC. I tried the best I could to try to tell him how to get to the AC, and he got it at first. Then he wanted it adjusted again a minute or two later, and began feeling the walls on the wrong side of the room, thinking he was getting near the AC switch.

As I was leaving, he then began having trouble with his dog's behavior, and once the dog started behaving, I left Tim alone.

I felt I got my first really good glimpse of what life would be like living blind, and now I can see that since a blind person may have been blind his/her whole life, it doesn't mean they're a pro at getting around.

So next time you're in traffic complaining about how long it's taking, or wondering whether or not you should go skiing because it could be too cold, just remember it could be worse - you could be blind, and not be able to participate in these daily types of activities.

Thanks for reading.