I am famous.
I made Adele’s Instagram page.
Weekend 9. Second photo.
See that woman off to the side?
In the shadowy background?
The woman smiling like she might burst into tears?
That’s me, at the Weekends with Adele concert in Vegas Friday night.
And that expression is the culmination of ten years of relief and gratitude that I was standing there off to the side, witnessing such a spectacular evening.
Ten years ago this month, while traveling to Jerusalem for work, my retina detached. By the time I returned home to Utah and underwent surgery to re-attach it, there were complications.
Ten years ago this weekend, I had just finished ten days of keeping my head parallel to the floor, 24/7, to keep the gas bubble inside my eyeball positioned exactly where it needed to be, and when the bandages finally came off, I learned that my retina had healed with a wrinkle in it, and everything in my vision was striated, or wavy.
I was highly depressed. It began a year of ups and downs - the best of times and the worst of times: the birth of our first grandchild, the graduation of a daughter, the wedding of a son, the devastating death of a niece. And then the retina detached in my other eye, and I started to fear what could possibly happen next.
The last ten years have been filled with all the surprises life provides, and for those ten years, every morning when I’ve opened my eyes to see, I’ve thanked my Heavenly Father for another day.
So as I sat (and jumped to my feet) in Adele’s concert, you must understand why it was so amazing to me. To have the ability to see each beautiful, breathtaking spectacle cross the stage, one after another, as the music and her voice swirled memories and lyrics all around us, was the greatest gift for me. Pure enjoyment. That’s joy on my face.
At the beginning of the night, Adele said to the audience, “I’m almost 35, and I like myself more every day.” I realized that she’s the same age as my eldest child. I’d never thought about that before, and I couldn’t help but watch the whole concert like a mom would. I felt so proud of her for the music she’s created, for her command of the stage, for the way she talks to the audience and makes them part of the experience, for the bravery to stand on a stage and make herself vulnerable to the reactions of every single person in the room. I wanted to say to her, “I see you. I see what you’ve created here. I see it. Thank you.”
Ten years of sight is a great gift, and I’ll keep thanking the Lord for each morning’s first early glimpse of light, because we never know when blessings will come in other ways, and some blessings will cease. #adele #weekendswithadele #sightisawesome
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