I love going out for a meal. It is one of the few pleasures in life I still enjoy. I use to go to the movies, attend huge amounts of Phillies and Flyers games each season, and go to the bookstore to browse. I’ve been to one Phillies game this season and we still go to the bookstore (mostly to take the kids,) but I really don’t enjoy it. (I haven’t been to the movies in over two years and really miss it. See my post Missing the Movies.) I do still love eating and do so four or five times a day.

Of course, dining out poses some challenges if you can’t see very well or at all; mainly, what to order. When we decide we’re going out for a meal, I will go to the restaurant’s website and have a look at the menu and, if available, the nutritional information. Since I budget my calories, I pick a couple of things just in case they’re out of my first choice when we get to the restaurant. When we go out on the spur of the moment, my wife or one of the kids will read the menu to me.

Another challenge is getting to and using the bathroom. If we’re eating at a restaurant that we’ve been to before, that isn’t an issue. If it is new to us, however, my wife or one of my kids will walk me over to it. I have to tell you, I have a fear of walking into the women’s restroom.

Then there is this Ònear miss.Ó We were dining at California Pizza Kitchen at the Christiana Mall. We’ve been there multiple times. While we were waiting for our food, I decided to use the restroom. I knew where it was and the restaurant wasn’t too busy so I was confident that I could navigate to it on my own. I was successful getting there and doing my business, but I had a little trouble on my return to our table. My son had a green shirt on and was facing in the direction of the bathroom. I knew to look for his green shirt to find our table.

You can probably guess what happened. Unbeknownst to me, the man sitting directly behind me also had a green shirt on. I didn’t see him when I got up and walked toward the bathroom, but I did see him on my return to our table. He was sitting in the same spot as my son, one table closer to the bathroom. I almost sat his table. The only thing that stopped me was the amount of plates on their table. They had just finished eating, so there were multiple plates. Since we were still waiting for our food, our table only had our drinks. I would have been pretty embarrassed had I sat at the wrong table, though I may have made a new friend and tried some new food.

Eating with utensils is another challenge, but I have that wherever I eat, I just can’t use my fingers at a restaurant. Believe me, if I get frustrated enough I’ll use my fingers at a restaurant too. Those of us with sight issues are challenged by many things in our daily lives that people with sight can’t even imagine. It is something we have to deal with and manage to succeed. By the way, the next time you are at a restaurant, look around. If you spot me dining near by, order an iced tea with extra lemons just in case I join you.

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