In June 2023, I was having dinner with my wife at a food truck park and asked her a question. One I wasn’t sure what the answer would be.
“If the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, can I go to the parade?”
The series had just started, but something about this playoff run felt special. With some hesitation she said yes, but there was one condition. I had to bring my cane with me. To witness something special and to cross "go to a championship parade" off my list. That’s it? Just bring my cane. Of course I can do that.
Before the puck dropped on a pivotal game 5, I already had a flight booked for the rumored day of the parade. Luckily, they won and it was set, I was days away from being Vegas bound to celebrate the first Stanley Cup in Vegas Golden Knights history.
Like so many I took to Facebook. I posted my excitement in a Golden Knights group and how I was making the trip from Texas along with why (the visual bucket list).
The post took off getting 11,000 likes and a lot of comments. Like “Enjoy the trip”, “Wish I could be there”, “Let’s go Knights”. But then other comments started to trickle in one from a woman who said her husband had also lost his eye, another from someone who is visually impaired but listens to the games at home, a guy who just like me had a retinal detachment due to diabetes, and others. Along with a comment from a guy named Jesse.
Besides being hockey fans Jesse and I had something in common. We both lost our left eye in 2020 and were told our right could go at anytime.
I reached out to him and we messaged about our condition, hockey and if you ever need someone I’m here for you.
It had been about a year since Jesse and I last messaged and then I reached out , just to check in on him. He told me how he had to make some changes in life because of his vision, but things were going okay.
He also said he started his own list and he’s crossing things off!
I was beyond happy for him. I know how much my list has meant to me and has brought me to a better mental standpoint. I know it’s going to do the same for him.
If this journey has taught me anything it’s that we’re not alone. When you’re going through something you often feel like you’re the only one going through it. But it’s not like that, there’s thousands of other me’s out there. It just took my favorite hockey team to make me notice it a little more clearly.
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