Never the Way We Were

The year I lost my sight at five, I found Stellan Hale half-frozen in the snow.

I told my mother I wanted a companion to guide me and begged her to take him in. Then I leaned close to his ear and whispered a promise.

"I don't need you to be my guide dog. Just stay alive. Go wherever you want to go."

Still, Stellan stayed. After Mom remarried, he became the only person I had left. He watched over me as I grew up, serving as my eyes and my cane year after year. He even gave up his extraordinary talent for painting to study medicine, all for the sake of my sight.