My dad was color blind. As a kid, I thought this meant he saw black and white which I thought would be pretty amazing and boring. Of course that wasn't the case. Later I married a color blind Michael.
One time when I took the girls to the eye doctor, Molly was in one room while I sat with Maggie in another. The doctor had just seen Molly and came into our room and without saying anything, grabbed a book and asked Maggie to look at the first page and then tell her if she saw anything in the circle. Maggie didn't see anything and went on to turn the pages, not seeing anything in any circle. I leaned over to see what she was looking at and I could see a number, in every circle. I was amazed Maggie couldn't see what I was seeing. Maggie is color blind. The doctor went on to tell us that Molly is too! Molly had requested she be tested.
Earlier while Molly was at school, one of her friends had on a tee shirt that confused her. She asked him about it and it turns out it was a color blind test tee shirt. That is why she requested the test.
The doctor stated it is not common for females to be color blind, especially two in one family. Molly did some research. They are color blind, their dad is color blind, I am not but my dad was. This makes me a carrier. They are always thanking me for that.
After we knew this, we started noticing differences in opinion on colors. Once while at a busy intersection waiting to cross, the orange hand was blinking letting us know not to cross. I just happened to say out loud that we needed to wait for the white man to tell us when we can go. The girls both said, you mean the green man? We had a debate all the way home. The internet confirmed he is white, not green. We then went on to the hand. It is orange but they think it is red.
Imagine the girls in Chemistry class while in school. Molly could never do titrations because she couldn't see the pale pink before it was too late and became bright pink. Hopefully her job never requires her to do this since she works in a research lab. Maggie's science teacher said it was nearly impossible for them to both be color blind and pretty much thought Maggie was telling a tall tale.
Maggie still thinks she sits on her green couch. It is actually brown. And when picking out paint colors with her boyfriend Chase, she was pulling out the yellows when they were looking for pink. She absolutely has no idea what color Chase's new guitar is.
Mike, Molly and I were at Target and Mike picked out a jacket for himself. When he showed it to me I mentioned that I really liked the green color. Molly and Mike both thought it was black.
I often wonder what colors Molly sees while she paints her art. She is creating something that only color blind people see the same as she does. The majority of us see something completely different.
At first there would be funny arguments about color and I would rarely win since I was out numbered. But now I think the three of them know that the color I see, is not what they see and that I am probably right.
Wouldn't it be funny if they also had synesthesia?
