And the earth moved!

Lots to catch up on, but I have to tell you about last Tuesday!

Firstly I should explain how Steve came to have a contact lens on the end of his finger the day the earth shook.

With the help of Dr Randy McLaughlin, who is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Ohio State University, Steve has been able to wear contact lenses onstage.

This means he can see the neck of the guitar and the tape fret markers a little better although beyond that is still difficult.

With a new prescription for glasses to combine with the lenses we hope he will have slightly better vision for distance and reading.

This is not a miracle cure as he still lives with damaged optic nerves from the Pigmentary Glaucoma; there are still many blind spots, as well as cloudy or blurred areas.

But it does help and we are eternally grateful to Randy for his expertise, faith and friendship  and to the boss for bringing Randy into our lives.

The lenses are difficult for Steve to put in and take out, as he cannot see his fingers, the mirror or the lens on the end of his finger. But, each day he works at getting them in and out with as little fuss as possible.

So, there we were in Scranton, Pennsylvania for a couple of days including a day off. It was the night of the show, Tuesday August 23^rd 2011, Steve had a shower and before he got dressed we began the process of putting in the first lens. He had it on the end of his finger and I was helping guide his finger to his eye when suddenly the walls in the bathroom began to rock! After the first few seconds Steve said, “I think we are having an earthquake”, I thought, “no, no, no, there must be a very fat person upstairs doing the conga”. We are not in California, how can there be an earthquake?

The walls kept rocking backwards and forwards as my completely naked man and I stood in the bathroom of the hotel, six floors up. The contact lens on the end of his finger waiting to find a home on his eye!

I thought it lasted at least 2 minutes but Steve assures me that it only lasted about 25 seconds. He is an old hand at earthquakes having lived in LA for 30 years but I on the other hand found the whole thing very disconcerting to say the least! How dare a whole building, probably built in the 40’s, rock backwards and forwards like a house of cards!

Just a little reminder that us mortals are borrowing this time from Mother Earth and she occasionally shows us that she is in charge.

I thank her and God that it was not worse, we were able to get that lens in and continue with our day.

I was pretty freaked out but my lovely husband was neither shaken or stirred.


Photo by Cari Paige