I IMCKKD up the phone. Without so much as a hello ,a voice said: "What's new? We have an eagle in the backyard. It look me three second* lo recognize my nephew's a voice. He was excited. "He's sitting on top of a dead tree in the backyard .He's been there a long lime. We're tilling in the sunroom watching him." But actually, my nephew is blind. Ketinitis pigmentosa brgan stealing his sight when he was 12. He' s in his 20s now. "It's a big thing. Dad said it must have a wingspan of 6 feet (1.88 meters). We've got an eagle out hack!" I could believe they had the rare pleasure of spotting an eagle. What I couldn't believe was that my nephew, without sight, was giving the comment. It shouldn't have been that surprising,really? His sight might be gone, but he sees plenty. From memory, mostly; from conventions around him; from listening to television and radio. He has an amazing memory. We took him into town with us when we were visiting his parents once. Our GPS wasn' t working, so he gave us directions turn by turn, complete with landmarks, approximate distances and cautions on curves in the road. He knew exactly where we were and got us to where wanted to go. Second to his family, there are two things that have been important in this young man's life: a guide dog and a job. The guide dog gave him the confidence he didn't know he had. The job, "well" as his dad said: "Having a job makes him like everybody else. Now, he has something to come home and complain about at the end of the day." I never have a conversation with my nephew without asking about his job in case lie wants to complain. But I know-and I know that he knows work is a gift. We were created to work. We were made to produce goods and services, to invent and solve problems. Work is what drags us out of bed in the morning. Work gives us something to do and somewhere to go. If that doesn't I sound like a big deal, talk to someone who' s unemployed. It is working hard that enhances the lime that you don't work, from kicking back and reading a book to watching an eagle in your backyard. What surprised the author when she received her nephew's phone call?
An eagle remained in her nephew' s backyard for a long time. The sight of an eagle made her nephew so excited. Her nephew regained his sight after he had been blind for several years. Despite being blind, her nephew described the eagle as if he could really see it.