Welcome everyone!
This is going to be a bit lengthy, so buckle up. TLDR: an intro for new followers and an update for those who have been wondering where we went.
First of all, some of you do know some of the ins and outs of what my family and I have been through over the last couple of months. In this update, I will be sharing what I feel comfortable sharing at this point and will continue to do so as I know especially those who know me, Jamie, and me in person will have questions/comments.
Back at the end of July, Ben, for those who don’t know, my husband and I decided to do this journey of creating life through our eyes. Our vision has changed and grown and will continue to do so, as we do have other things in the works to expand upon this and the hope is to take you with us on the journey of creating our online community and following.
The basics are we are a family of four, mom, dad, 5-year-old girl and21-month old boy. One of the biggest things about our family is the fact that I mom/Jamie am blind. Neither Ben/dad, Gabbi/daughter nor Andy/son are blind themselves. We wanted to provide information and support to those who may be going through the same type of situation, but also would like to provide education in general about blindness whether that be in general, as a mom, as a wife, as a woman in today’s society. Not only that, but we want to provide the support and education to those who have people with not just blindness in their lives, but other disabilities as well. What is it like day to day for Ben, Gabbi, and Andy.
What you will come to see, is a lot of our life is just like other families of four. But there can be differences and it’s how we navigate those is what sets us apart. Every person with a disability is different. What do I mean? I mean we all have differing ways of handling situations and what one person’s comfort level may be not someone else’s. That is another thing, I never judge others and how they do things, so I don’t like that being done to me either. I say this only, so you go into watching our videos, reading our blog entries with an open mind and know this is our story. How we have chosen to live it, is our choice. We invite you along for the journey and hope you enjoy being a part of our community we hope to build/our lives even if it is just virtual.
We have been more absent now for the last couple of months and that wasn’t our plan at all. However, life threw us a pretty big curve ball at the beginning of December, and it’s taken some time for especially me to start to dig my way out of it.
Part of what I wanted and envisioned this community to look like was us being our true and authentic selves. We are unapologetically us. Our posts may not be perfect, neither will our videos. They are the real deal though and what is written/said is as well. So, welcome to those of you who are new, and thanks for sticking around for those who have been wondering where we’ve been.
So, to what has kept us away. It mostly has to do with me and my job situation. About a month ago I resigned from my job. This was not planned, but something that happened because ultimately it was the right thing to do for my physical/mental health, and for my family. I do want to share the details over time and when I am able. For now, what I will say is that I did not feel I was being treated right and it was becoming a hostile environment. I’m well aware there are always two sides to every story, but what I also know is my truth. It was destroying who I am as a person and was taking a tole on my family. I was no longer happy with anything and filled with anxiety and panic a lot of the time. My heart hurt because I had loved my job at one time, and in the last few years, it had become unbearable and well, just not fair. So, I made the decision to leave. For those who are wondering why did I not give a notice? That is because of how bad the situation had become. Please trust me with this. When I can share more than that, I will.
How am I doing now? I am getting better every day. It will take some time. Going through what I did was traumatic and leaving somewhere I worked for almost 13 years is hard to come to acceptance of my new reality, but I’m working toward being good with my new job which is full-time mommy. I definitely know both my babies deserve a mommy who was there more for them than I have been in a long time. I am still working on figuring out where I belong/how to belong as a stay-at-home mommy, but just like every season of our lives, it will take time to get used to and figure out how it works for me. So, for those who are wondering if I’m looking for another job, not now. I’m doing the mommy thing for now and working on taking care of my family and myself. For my family, that is what we decided is what is best for now.
We have other ideas to expand life through our eyes into a bigger project and as that gets up and moving I/we will share more about that as it comes about.
We have created pages on all the socials too, and hope to keep those up to date. I will do a post at some point sharing all our other socials so you can follow us other places too if you’d like. Our plan is to reach as many people on different platforms as we can.
I hope you all are having a wonderful 2025 so far!
Life Through Our Eyes 