VT Works

It’s been a while since I’ve been here. My departure wasn’t a deliberate one, life just got busy, then COVID arrived, and time seemed to both stop and accelerate simultaneously – quite the paradox. Like most of you, we adapted and kept going, doing everything we could to help patients improve while maintaining our social distance. No easy feat. Kudos to all of you who have found a way to make it work in your own corner of the world. I would have never believed it was possible for me to think you were any more amazing than I did prior to COVID, but you have all proven me quite wrong. Never have I been more proud to be part of this profession than in the last 12 months. Through all of that has transpired in the last year, finding positive can, at times, be challenging. I’ve always felt, though, that we get what we give, and the more we find ways to inject positive into our corner of the world, the more positive will come to us. It’s a principle that has served me well, and one which no virus can ever compromise.

My dear friend, Linda Sanet, has told me many times that Vision Therapy, when done well, will offer as many gifts to the therapist as it does the patient. Although Linda first shared those words nearly twenty years ago now, the wisdom of that statement continues to ring true time and time again, and when that bell rings, I sit by amazed, awed, and humbled.

Somewhere during the mess of COVID, I was connected with a young lady who was struggling in school, having headaches, and generally disliked the idea of continuing with any of it. The day we met, virtually, she was 12 years old. As always, her sessions began with an orientation, which for me has always included collecting goals. She shared her ideas for how she would like her academics to turn around, but made it very clear she wanted to sing professionally. My usual shtick in collecting goals includes something like we can work on “anything you do with your eyes open”… have I mentioned how many neighborhood dogs howl when I try to carry a tune? I’ve since adjusted my verbiage to include “almost anything”, but hey, if feeling better about her visual performance and it’s many outcomes would offer the confidence to sing loud, I was game. So off we went…digging into her visual skills, and along the way, having many heartfelt talks about school, finding confidence again, and of course, singing.

Allow me to fast forward a bit, we are six months into her program and things are going well. It’s early January 2021. For Christmas, my friend had been hoping to receive a recording microphone to begin her musical career, but it was not to be. After asking a few questions, it was clear to me that between COVID, a parent who lost a job in December, and an upcoming need to move out of their home, money was extremely tight. Remember what I said about putting good into the world? So when our session was over, I went on Amazon, found the microphone she had been telling me about, and sent it to her. Enclosed was a very simple note: “Keep Chasing Your Dreams!”. When it arrived, she was surprised and grateful, and promised to share her music with me when she was ready. We left it there, continued with her VT program in the subsequent weeks, and I forgot all about it.

Today, while I was sitting at home recovering from the effects of my first kidney stone experience (a whole other post), my young, now 13 year old friend, sent me an email. The subject line simply read “Chasing a Dream”, and in the body was a link. I’ll stop the narrative here and ask you to listen for ten minutes, as I did, to someone who is both wise well beyond her years and talented at levels I have never even considered. I was beyond blown away.

While you’re listening, please know I will continue to sit by amazed, awed, and humbled by the gifts Vision Therapy has brought into my life.

No surprise, but Linda was right.

(Shared with Permission)