Our Friday flight from O’Hare had been delayed four hours. By the time Hanni, Mike and I got to Morristown, I was ready for a glass of wine. Or two. Or three. “Will Merlot do?” Jim Kutsch asked. “If not, just let me know — we have a wine cellar in the basement.”
Ginger Bennett (L) and Jim Kutsch (R), great hosts and great guides to Morristown, NJ. (That
big-time jobs between them, they manage a household on their own, they both have Seeing Eye dogs, he’s now the President of the Seeing Eye. Isn’t that cool enough? They are wine connoisseurs, too?!
“We’re not collectors,” Jim explained. Our dogs were scrambling at his feet, acquainting themselves with each other. ” The cellar came with the house.” Keeping track of the wine in the cellar had been difficult at first. “I was feeling through all the shelves one day and it dawned on me,” he said. “The wines were arranged in a sort of grid.” And so, of course, he did what any other blind computer geek would do. He used his talking computer to create an excel spreadsheet of the cellar.
Other Reminders Our Hosts Were Both Blind
1. Ginger would pet a dog, then ask aloud, “Which one are you?” She’d feel for their necks (each of the three had different sorts of collars) and then she’d know for sure.
2. Jim set a talking timer when he put our burgers on the gas grill outside. When it chirped, he knew to turn the burgers over.
3. Ginger poured my first glass of wine and set it in front of me. She had no way of knowing where I might have set that glass after that, though. So when I ask for a second Merlot, she set the bottle near me and tapped it with her fingertips. I heard where the bottle was and could pour that second glass myself.
4. I heard Jim flip a switch as he led us into the room we’d be sleeping in. Then he asked Mike, just to make sure. “Is the light on?” The next morning we paraded to the Kutsches’ favorite coffeeshop for breakfast – Colby leading Jim, Peyton leading Ginger, Hanni and me bringing up the rear. Poor Mike had to walk alone.
After breakfast we spent a glorious day at the Seeing Eye’s Family day for Puppy Raisers — a day of dogs, demonstrations, videos, free lunch and ice cream to help puppy raisers realize the rewards of their dedication. Nearly 2000 volunteers showed up for the fun, and the Seeing Eye ordered caseloads of special copies of Safe & Sound for the event. Puppy raisers lined up to have me sign (and Braille) my name into each book. Hanni’s pawprint was rubber stamped on each copy, too, of course. Ramona, the wonderful Seeing Eye staff member who’d been tracking our flight delay the day before, was assigned to help with the signing. “I’m glad you guys made it!” she said with relief in her voice. “Those O’Hare-Newark flights are notorious for being late.”
She led me to a signing table and we got started. A few minutes later she was already so busy opening containers of books that she couldn’t help me rubber-stamp Hanni’s pawprint. Mike was called to action and was a good partner — he had no trouble hurrying me on if the line got too long. Anyone who has been to one of my book signings knows how I LOVE to chat with everyone who comes to the table.
A Surprising Thing Mike & I Learned from the Puppy Raisers
I thought puppy raisers might secretly hope that in the end their puppies wouldn’t make it into class. Dogs removed from consideration as a guide are offered to the volunteer who raised the dog as a puppy. If the puppy raiser cannot take the dog, the dog becomes adoptable to others. But as the puppy raisers counted off the number of puppies they’d raised, I could hear their voices fill with disappointment when naming the ones who hadn’t made it. “He had toileting issues,” one little girl told me. Another dog was too protective. One lab suffered from chronic ear infections. As the event was drawing to a close, I asked a member of the Puppy Placement Department what the hardest part of her job was. I expected her to say it was taking the dogs away from the families to start training. “Oh, yes, that’s hard,” she acknowledged. “But the families all know that is going to happen.” The hardest part, she said, was phoning the families whose dog had been removed from the training program. “They take it hard,” she said.
One of Many, Many Examples of Nice New Yorkers
Booksigning over, we were whisked to the train station in Morristown for an overnight in New York City. Hard to imagine where NYC got the reputation of being rude — everyone was so kind to us. When Hanni, Mike and I exited Penn Station, Mike told a transit cop the address of our hotel. “Is it possible to walk there?”
“Too far,” the cop said. We headed to the taxi cue. All of a sudden we heard that same cop calling out to us. “Over here!” he said. He had hailed a cab four us himself.
The whole weekend was fab, from staying at the home of the Seeing Eye president and his wife in Morristown on Friday night to hanging out with Ramona and meeting all those dedicated puppy raisers during the day Saturday to our night at the “Desmond Tutu Hotel” in Chelsea. When I emailed Ramona today to thank her for all her hard work, I told her the good news about our flight back: it actually left Newark on time. “You oughta buy a lottery ticket,” she said in her email message back to me. “You’re awfully lucky.”
She’s right.
Sounds like it was a great adventure! And I noticed the spot in the Seeing Eye newsletter on Safe and Sound winning the APSCA Henry Berg award. Congratulations. And I’m glad at least Hanni didn’t have to hold it for 9 hours like the last time!
Beth,
I’m so glad that you had an incredible time!
Tomorrow I will visit Chicago for the first time with Jim. I’m glad I know where I’m going because I’ve been to Chicago many times before. Jim will be, without a doubt, happy to be in a city setting. My trainer said he loves working crowds and being in the city. Just my kind of boy. *smile*
I am going to see a friend who is already moved in for school at IIT.
I can barely hold my excitement. Jim and I get to ride the Metra and the El everywhere.
Hope you have a great day tomorrow!
Take Care,
Sarah
First, to Nancy: funny you should bring up those agonizing 9 hours on the runway with Hanni — as the third hour passed Friday and we were still sitting at the gate waiting to board, I did the math: we had left home six hours earlier, and that was the last time Hanni had had a chance to “empty.”
So Mike & I made the big decision: we took Hanni out again, let her pee, and then had to go through security again –UGH! It was all worth it though, just to know Hanni was comfortable.
And Sarah, I admire your enthusiasm about coming to the city. Even Ginger Bennett Kutsch admitted that she and Peyton were “overwhelmed” during a recent visit to Chicago. And sh’es the First Lady of the Seeing Eye!
Good luck with Jim tomorrow — I know you’ll have fun!
As your publisher and also as a New Yorker, I thought it would be appropriate for me to comment two-fold. I’m so proud and pleased to have been a teeny tiny part of the Puppy Raiser Family Day by providing the books with custom dust jackets. The Seeing Eye was a terrific organization to partner with on this project. Quite a smart and talented group!
As far as New York and New Yorkers go, we are perceived as rude because we’re a very busy crew and are always running to catch a train or make it on time for an appointment when we’re in the city. Sometimes we are a bit impatient when tourists take photos of brick buildings that have absolutely no significance. But we are NOT rude. In fact, I think it is quite a welcoming place. On Thursday of last week, I took my three children to the city to meet my husband for lunch. The five of us took the train home together at 5 p.m. Everybody who rides the LIRR knows you won’t find a seat–never mind five–at that time of day. But there were single seats available throughout one train car. At first, a nice young man with a single seat next to him offered to move to a different single seat so my six-year-old daughter and I could sit down. We accepted. Then another man who was in a three-seater next to us with only one other person in it got up and offered his seat and the open seat next to him to my sons. And if that weren’t enough, the man on the end of that three-seater stood up and said, “Well, I guess I’m in for the show. I might as well move so you can all sit together.” And all five of us got seats together. It’s not like we were traveling with infants or toddlers. I was truly touched. So I said, “Wow! Who ever said New Yorkers were rude?” And the last guy to move answered, “People who aren’t from New York.” We all laughed.
As far as the police officers are concerned–we refer to them as the NYPD–I have never come across a rotten apple in the bunch–not once. In fact, I find that they go out of their way to be helpful. It’s not surprising that many of them are from Long Island!!! One time, I received three yellow jacket stings on one leg as I was entering a train in Babylon. By the time I arrived in Penn Station, my leg was throbbing. I stopped in at the police booth at Penn, and the guys treated me as if I had broken a bone. They were wonderful!
Hmm. Maybe some New Yorkers like it that outsiders think they’re rude, it keeps silly tourists away! After this trip I’ve started comparing NYC to Paris…
This was a wonderful post. I love the details about how you and Ginger used nonverbal cues to communicate just as effectively as people who aren’t blind. And the information about the puppies was fascinating. I would take one of those puppies in a heartbeat!
I am glad that you had a good time, but I’d like a longer report about your day and evening in the city. Details, woman!!
Re rudeness. People mistake walking quickly and not making eye contact for rudeness. In a city as densely populated as NY, people tend to keep as much to themselves as possible in order to have some semblance of privacy. But I have never encountered a rude New Yorker and I have lived right in the thick of things for 60 of my 65 years. Tokyo is even denser with people than New York is and its citizenry is not saddled with the reputation that New Yorkers have. If you came away from New York with only the feeling that we are not rude, well, that doesn’t say much about what a great city this is, does it?
I did love your post about your day in Morristown. Fascinating stuff.
BB
Glad you had a good time! Waw, I must have been lucky when I went to Newark — my flight was only delayed by half an hour! I too am amazed that the puppy raisers are not disappointed when there former puppies make it into class, but I guess it makes sense. After all, they committed to raise a puppy knowing the purpose it would serve even though it would be very hard for them to let go of the puppies in the end.
Sandra
BB,
I’m afraid the reason there wasn’t much on my post about our time in NYC is that…we weren’t there long enough! With so little time on our hands, we decided to limit our exploration to just Chelsea, where we were staying. The Desmond Tutu Center Hotel was FANTASTIC – I felt like I was in a European hotel, the rooms were small, quiet and classy. The staff was oh so nice (more of that NYC kindness) and helpful. When we arrived, two women from Australia were asking directions from the guy at the front desk. He looked at us, pointed to them and said, “These two met 27 years ago in a Neil Diamond fan club! They’re here for the concert!” The friends were terribly excited, and as they rushed out the door we all chorused our good wishes for the concert.
I tend to judge hotels by the friendliness of the staff and then the types of soaps and shampoos they give you plus the glassware they provide for water and such – Tutu gets five stars.
After we checked in, we walked around Chelsea. We walked. And Walked. And Walked. And Walked. And Walked. The streets and sidewalks seemed wide, and the traffic was minimal. The sun was out and I could feel it on my face –few tall buildings in Chelsea! Finally we ducked into a joint for a snack, and when we asked the bartender how far it was to the Meat Packing District she got out a map and showed Mike. We talked for quite a while – she was a fledgling writer — and she endud up giving us her map to keep. Another nice New Yorker.
We hiked over to the Meat Packing District but to me it was too noisy – music flowing into the streets. We walked back to Chelsea, ate dinner in a spot that had caught Mike’s fancy earlier on. It was called “La Luncheonette” and the staff there was, guess what, NICE to us.
The Desmond Tutu Center Hotel serves a complimentary breakfast, I had lox and cream cheese on a bagel that was not a torroid –yum. We walked to Chelsea Pier then and sat on a bench to enjoy the lovely morning. After that, it was time to catch a cab to Newark.
I love the bit where Jim asked Mike if the light was on. Were there any other accommodations that Jim and Ginger had to make for their sighted guest? How did Mike feel about being in the minority?
I’m so glad to hear how much you enjoyed your trip! Of course, I have to chime in about New Yorkers, having lived there most of my life. I couldn’t agree with Francine more. I had no idea people perceived New Yorkers as rude until I moved away. Whenever I go back to visit, I love going into a pizza parlor or a deli so I can feel the warm welcome. And I mean places I haven’t necessarily been to before. New Yorkers are often in a hurry; it’s a pretty fast-paced city. They are often direct when they speak with you. They are refreshingly honest. They’re also often extremely helpful and caring. I attribute my ability to ask for help from (as well as give help to) any stranger because I grew up there. It would take too long for me to list the examples, but I love the ones Francine gave us.
I love that two women traveled half the length and breadth of the world to see Neil Diamond! I’ve heard he has some fairly rabid fans. At one point, one of our surgeons had to see someone who was in a group of women who followed Neil through the US on his entire tour and watched every show! He was in Urbana and she ended up in the hospital, just briefly. Sounds like you had a great visit.
Sandra, you only had ahalf-hour delay on your way to Newark?! *YOU* are the one who should buy a lottery ticket — you’re lucky!
Smynthia, Mike said he had to kinda sorta sit on his hands while the Kutsch’s were preparing the table for dinner — he was tempted to jump up and help but knew they’d do fine on their own. I think he’s received so many dirty looks from me (trust me, you don’t have to be able to see to give dirty looks, you only have to be able to see in order to RECEIVE them!) when he’s interrupted my “flow” that he was well-trained for Friday night. The only other accomodation (I love how you put it that way, Smynthia!) the Kutsch’s had to make to Mike was when they described which guest room we’d be staying in. They have three extra bedrooms and they still identify those rooms by the color they were when they first moved in. “We put you in the Green Room,” Ginger told us. But then she explained that all the rooms had been painted since they moved in. “So your room isn’t green anymore.” They felt compelled to explain this to Mike so that Mike wouldn’t see the color of the walls and worry we were in the wrong room.
PS to Nancy B: I gotta say, those Australian women didn’t think it was odd at all, following Neil Diamond to NYC.
But I sure did!
I was wondering if Hanni’s puppy raiser voluteers came to your book signing? I’m sure they would be thrilled to see how far their little puppy has come. I’m sure they never dreamed that little Hanni would grow up and take part in an award winning book.
Hanni’s puppy raisers couldn’t make it to Family Fun Day for some reason, but a woman from the Seeing Eye Puppy Placement Department got permission for me to sign a book specifically for Hanni’s puppy raisers — the Seeing Eye has a pretty strict rule about not letting the graduates know who raised their dogs and vice-versa (I think I’m going to post a blog about this policy sometime in the future) so they couldn’t give me the kids names when i signed the book.
And though I call them “kids”, the youngsters who raised Hanni must be teenagers by now.
ANYWAY, I signed their book to “Hanni’s Puppy Raisers” and said “I wouldn’t have been able to write this book without you.” The book will be hand-delivered, and I think you are right, Cheryl: the puppy raisers will be surprised. And proud!
More about rudeness. Today when I went down for the mail, I saw the letter carrier in the mailroom on her phone. I said Hello and she replied,”I just got here, so don’t harass me.” Okay, that was way rude. But was it a New Yorker being rude, a postal worker being rude, a woman being rude, an African-American being rude? I came to the conclusion that it was someone on a cellphone being rude.
What do you think?
BB
What do I think? I think i hate cell phones!
OK, I have a cell phone, but I use it as a business phone and for when the kids’ schools need to contact me when I’m not at my landline.
What bugs me the most (well, one of the things) is when people use those earpods and walk around talking to people that aren’t there. I never know if they’re talking to me, or maybe talking to themselves.
Yeah, and for those of us who can’t see, this phenomenon has been going on ever since the cell phone came out. For almost ten years now I have experienced people walking down the street saying “hello!” and when I’d respond I’d get no answer — it took a while for me to figure this out at first. They were on a phone! Nowadays when someone on the street says hello, I respond with a smile but don’t answer.
Yikes. I wonder if some people think I’m, you know…RUDE!
Oh gosh! I feel so stupid when that happens to me as I’m traveling!
Sandra
Oh Sandra, Try not to feel stupid when you mistake a cell phone user for a human being! They are not human. They are robots!!
I love your comment about people on cell phones being robots. LOL I’ve definitely had the experience of talking to someone and then finding out later that he/she was on a cell phone. How embarrassing!
You’re so lucky to have gone back to TSE for puppy day. I’d love to go back to TSE and see the changes. Maybe one of the o&M people will slip me in his or her suitcase. LOL
One of my dorm mates is a puppy raiser for TSE, or was I guess. She’s in the O&M program and wants to be an instructor at TSE one day. Maybe when you return for another dog, you’ll have Kristen as an instructor.
Alexis, you are right. I *was* lucky to have the opportunity to return to the Seeing Eye for Puppy Raiser Day. And sounds like I’ll be even *luckier* if I happen to get Kristen for my instructor next time around!
[…] interview with Seeing Eye president Jim Kutsch and his wife Ginger. You might remember them from a post I published here after Mike, Hanni and I stayed at their house during a visit to the Seeing Eye a year ago. Ginger […]
What a great blog. I am so happy to have found it. I’m currently in the application process to be a puppy raiser. Though giving up the puppy will be hard, I like the others in your story, am more worried about failing. I want my puppy to go all the way!
Alexis, if you enthusiasm in real life is anything like your enthusiasm on paper (or, I suppose I should say, on computer?) your puppy wil indded go all the way. THANK YOU SO MUCH for volunterring t raise a puppy, it is such a generous thing to do –GOOD LUCK!
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