Dark Dining

On Saturday night, Molly and I went to a fundraising dinner to benefit the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI).  The event was called “Dark Dining.” 

It was incredible! 

We were led blind folded into a curtained banquet hall by a trained guide and “dropped off” at our table.  There was no instruction, no hand holding, NO PEEKING and no sight (obviously).  We proceeded to have an hour and a half 4 course dinner while blind.  (Because I couldn’t see, I couldn’t take a picture of us – this is a Google pic)  During the night, they provided entertainment of varying genres and quality (it was interesting to see who the performers were when we took off our masks).  Some of the take away highlights were:

• It is easier to eat salad with your hands.
• When you think you are cutting a bite sized piece of steak…think again…it’s just as likely to be the size of your fist.
• Buttering your bread is unbelievably difficult. 
• The room sounded like a high school cafeteria…people were having so much fun while making perfectly good fools of themselves.
• When I removed my blindfold my fork and half of my vegies were on the floor, two of my potatoes were on the tablecloth (speaking of tablecloth, mine looked like a 2 year old ate at my seat), the room wasn’t laid out the way I had envisioned, our table mates looked different than I had pictured and most of all… I WAS SO GRATEFUL I COULD SEE.

All in all, this was a fantastic fundraising event for CABVI.  While we all had fun, we walked away with an unbelievably DRAMATIC appreciation for what it meant to be blind!  Mind blowing!