Cheery!

The oldest hands me a folded piece of paper. "Here. I drew it to cheer up Grandpa. Take it with you to the hospital, OK?" The oldest isn't old enough to visit on the intensive care unit, but this is something he can do for Grandpa.

I don't have the heart to tell him Grandpa probably can't see anymore.

I open the piece of paper. The oldest has drawn the sun shining brightly. There's a nice blue sky. The grass is plentiful and green...

...And there's Pep, his shepherd mix dog, with sharp teeth and wolflike ears. She is in a fighting posture. She has trapped a field mouse and is clearly about to kill it, something she loves to do. The mouse has a fearful expression and a speech bubble that says, appropriately enough, "Eek."

In this case, I think my father's lack of vision may be a

blessing in disguise
idiom
A misfortune that unexpectedly turns into good fortune. [Mid-1700s]
"blessing in disguise." The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Answers.com 08 Jul. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/blessing-in-disguise

True story: when I was ten years old, I sent my grandmother, ailing in the hospital, a poem I had written called When a Woman Dies, full of ghastly imagery and ghoulish rhymes. She recovered from her illness and saved the poem, why I do not know. I still have it.