Quite literally, a blog about vision.

My eyes are old. It’s been happening for a while, that slow move toward reading glasses. A few years ago I had my vision corrected with Lasik and they warned me the day would come where I would need some sort of aid but I don’t want it to be here yet.

I wish I could read this…

You see, I spent from age 8 to 44 as someone who couldn’t see without glasses or contacts. I have the awkward school pictures from grades 3 to 8 (when thankfully I was allowed to wear contacts) with the 80’s frames. You, know the ones that dipped down, were oversized and tortoiseshell. When I first started wearing them, I would often forget them at home and when I got to school I’d be startled that I couldn’t see the board. I’d run to the office and call my mom to save the day.

Fourth grade me. Awkward.

I’m not sure when I heard about Lasik corrective surgery, but how I pined for it from the moment I discovered this magical remedy to nearsightedness. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford it and for many years it seemed like a pie-in-the-sky dream. The ability to wake during the night and see the clock on the dresser, to be able to tell at a glance how much longer I had before needing to leave my cozy bed-nest.

I pulled it off when I was 44. It hurt like the devil. They offered me a relaxing pill before the procedure and I greedily took it from the nurse. The transaction was too easy that it felt illegal. One person passing another a drug to relax them without a prescription. I stretched out on the table waiting, nearly panicking that I wouldn’t be able to follow the instructions of the doctor. And it was hard. I couldn’t keep my eyes from blinking and she had to call for assistance.

It took only a few minutes once it got going but my eyes burned and then felt like they were being pricked with pins and needles. I couldn’t bear to sit in a lit room. Once home, I went directly to bed and managed to sleep through the night and in the morning – magic. I could see the numbers as clear as day on the clock on my dresser.

3 more hours of sleep.

But as promised, my vision has been faltering of late and I can no longer see the clock on the dresser without squinting. I’m confronted by menus under dark lighting and instructions on bottles so small I need to take a picture and then zoom in to see what they say. What a nuisance it is to grow old.

MC

Inspired by the daily prompt – vision.