"C'mon Papa" - life seen from the other side

My son David discovered Ryan Knighton's book "C'mon Papa" and gave it to me for my birthday last week. He knew that, as the daughter of a blind man, this book would touch the core of my soul - and it did.

As I read Ryan's descriptions of his day to day activities, thoughts, fears and triumphs, I pictured what my Dad must have felt and thought - that had never occurred to me before.

You see, growing up with a blind father means that, in your world, blind is normal. Blind people are normal - they just can't see very well (or, in my Dad's case, can't see at all. 100% in the dark!). In his book, Ryan quoted his wife Tracy saying, "I'm used to blindness, too, you know. It's about as normal in our house as air."

All new parents approach their babies with trepidation. What if I drop him? What if she gets sick and I can't fix the problem?

For the visually impaired, those fears, as cleverly described by Ryan, are magnified a hundred fold.

At their first ultrasound he said he felt "joy by proxy". "I felt happy for Tracy, excited to be a father, proud for the three of us, and cheated of the experience."

In hindsight, how often was my father 'cheated of the experience' or relegated to feeling 'joy by proxy'?

"C'mon Papa" is full of such insights, interspersed with humour that had me laughing out loud while sitting at the kitchen table, tea in one hand, book in the other. The visual image of Ryan and a seven-months-pregnant Tracy "doing the funky chicken" while crossing an icy street had me in hysterics.

Reading this book I laughed. I cried. And, I got to know my own father in a totally different light.

When my Dad passed away I wrote his obituary - the story of a man whose life was well lived because he was so loved by his daughter. Ryan Knighton's book has inspired me to tell more of my Dad's story through the eyes of his growing daughter.

I hope that Tess, Ryan's daughter, grows on to enjoy seeing life from both sides and that Ryan's journey into fatherhood brings him, Tracy and Tess, a lifetime of joy and laughter.

My Dad and me the day I came home from the orphanage. Yes, a 40-year-old blind man and his wife adopted a 4-month-old baby.