July 3rd 1978

That is a date I remember well. In our backyard at my childhood home we had an apple tree. Every year at this time there would be loads of little green apples which had fallen off the tree before they reached maturity. These were a great source of fun for me, as they were perfect for someone who liked to throw things. I spent hours throwing them at selected targets, the side of a shed, trees, birds, and other kids. Mostly my nephews. We would get into apple fights all the time. We would duck behind trees and bushes, usually we'd end up picking teams or just ganging up on someone - a lot of times I was the one ganged up on since I was older than they were. It was all great fun until that day - July 3rd, 1978.

My nephew and I were pinging each other when I turned around and caught an apple full force in my open right eye. It felt like my head exploded and I couldn't see anything. I wasn't sure if my eye was still there or not, and I ran yelling into the house. Mom took a look at my eye and reassured me that it was still intact. After several minutes my sight started to return. My nephew was more scared than I was, and kept apologizing, but it was just an accident and I should have known it would happen sooner or later. Well, that day lives in my memory as the day the apple fights ended, because my mom put a stop to them that day.

My eye was a target that year because around the same time (I think it was after the apple incident) I was struck in the same eye when a nail I was hammering chipped off and cut my eyeball. I've had trouble with my sight in that eye ever since. Wonder why? lol