Obstacles

If I had to choose three obstacles that have shaped or changed my life I would have to say that first, my illness which that made me blind and deaf was a big obstacle. I had to learn sign language to speak with someone. I also learned how to read and write Braille, and I learned how to write English.
Another obstacle that shaped my life was when I went to go see Laura Bridgeman who was a Perkins resident and nearly fifty-nine years old. I approached her and she gave me a kiss. I tried to touch her face, but she moved away she told Teacher that she did not teach me to be very gentle. I couldn't think of what else to do so I sat on the floor; and right away she yanked me up and reminded me not to dirty my dress. When I left I went to give her a kiss but instead I trampled her toes. She was a cold, old, motionless woman.
For the third obstacle that shaped my life was when my father died August 19, 1896. I was overwhelmed with grief. "My father is dead!” she wrote in a letter to Bell. "My own dear loving father! Oh, my dear friend, how shall I bear it! . . . I never knew how dearly I loved my father until I had realized I lost him." I had tried to go to the funeral, but my mother told me not to come. I had felt rejected.