Hi, my name is Melanie. I have a 3 year old daughter named Trista. Trista is a beautiful, blond, curly haired, blue-eyed, little girl, who just happens to be blind. Trust me, it's not just me who sees her as beautiful! Trista has what is called CVI or Cortical Visual Impairment. How the impairment happened isn't too important, but it did happen. My perfect beautiful baby, had something terrible (in my eyes) to overcome. But at only 3, she has taught me so much more than I ever though I could learn, and last week I was given my "aha moment". During a visit from Trista's Teacher for the Visually Impaired (who is blind herself) the subject on the stress that such a thing can cause a family came up. It took me all of 2 seconds to say, "If there was anything I could do to help her see, I would do it, but, I couldn't imagine her any other way. We almost lost her, and considering the fact that we've lost 2 babies since her (due to miscarriage) I love her even more so, and she will never know the difference that sight could bring." At this point I was trying to hold back my tears, and her teacher says "You've already have, you show her things, you let her feel things, smell things. You allow her to explore. You have given her vision through her 'eyes'". She may not have my vision, but she does see. That is my aha moment.