A regular patient of mine who is a sweet Malay lady of 70 years came for her usual blood pressure check and mentioned that she had just had her cataracts removed.
"Oh... I didn't know. Has your vision improved?" I asked.
"Oh. Very much! I can see clearly now!"
At this point, she glanced around my consultation room that she has visited countless times before and exclaimed,"Wow! Your office is so nice!"She then looked at me, with her eyes widening in surprise, and exclaimed again, "Oh! This is how you look, doctor! You are so cantik*!"
I was a little taken aback and could only blush sheepishly. I had no idea that all this time, she didn't know what I looked like. All this time she probably had seen my face as a blur and knew me only by my voice and touch.
She was seeing me for the very first time.
She behaved like a person who had been looking through a veil all along. And now, that veil had been lifted.
Everything to her was now fresh, new and exciting. Now there are details instead of a blur.
Wow!
*Cantik means pretty in Malay