Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit a friend whom I hadn’t seen in a couple of years I wanted to introduce him to Rugby Jones. His name is Stash Serafin and he is blind. Stash was born without the ability to see, at least, not with his eyes. Stash, however, has the capacity to see more intently than anyone I have ever known. Believe it or not, Stash is a figure skater and not a just any figure skater. Stash has “performed, worked with and taught Olympic and world class figure skaters for over thirty years.” The link for his YouTube video is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2gTyHKIHOk
Stash has also co-authored a book titled: You Can’t Get It Cause You Already Got It!
One of the many reasons that I admire Stash so much is that he has taken his disability and turned it into ability just like all of the great ones do. He is motivated by his belief in the possibilities that come with disabilities He laughs about some of his experiences and draws you into his realm of positivity and frankness with an ability to come in through the back door with his sense of humor. As an example, we were talking about how some people react to his being blind. He started to smile as he told me what had happened a few years earlier. When saying good bye to someone, he had said, “I’ll see you later.” The person responded by asking, “See me later?” With Stash’s sense of humor, he then asked, “What do you want me to say, I’ll feel you later?” I couldn’t control my laughter. His frankness and upbeat attitude was and is infectious!
That is the lesson that my friend Stash, shares with all who meet him. There is no “poor me” attitude. As Stash and I talked, I was lucky enough to be able to watch Rugby Jones with my eyes because it was as though he was in a trance. As most of you know, Rugby Jones is my handicapped Pembroke Welsh corgi. Anyway, Rugby couldn’t take his eyes off of Stash and seemed to hang on his every word. It was as though they were kindred spirits and they both knew it. Stash would reach down and try to touch Rugby. If Rugby wasn’t immediately within his reach, he moved his wheelchair so that Stash could pet him and then he leaned into his hand.
Later, Stash took us out to his garden, where we smelled the roses and Rugby and I were lucky enough to also be able to see their beauty with our eyes. I took a couple of pictures but the one I am including here makes my heart smile the most. Why? Because of the reaction that both Rugby and Stash had as it happened. As Stash walked toward the beautiful flowers, he misplaced the tip of his white cane. Instead of touching it to the ground, he placed the tip on Rugby’s head. We all giggled as it happened but Rugby’s response was very poignant because it was so typical of Rugby Jones. Those of you who know @RugbyJones from Twitter, understand what I am about to tell you. Rugby’s thought process is “way wonderful” because as usual, he calls a spade a spade and speaks honestly and directly about topics that others may avoid speaking about due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
I will quote my friend Rugby.
Guess what I did today? I met a new friend and he was way cool. He can’t see with his eyes but he can skate on the ice and spin around. Even I can’t do that! This is a picture of us looking at some pretty flowers. I was really happy that he used his white cane to help him see and not to help him stand. Can you see why? I bet you can. Yup, my friend Stash put the tip of his cane on my head instead of on the ground. It didn’t matter since it was a seeing cane and not a walking cane because I don’t think my head was strong enough to hold him up if it had been a walking cane. I think my new friend Stash is way cool. He might be almost as cool as I am! Don’t you agree?
