Wednesday, March 27, 2013

A visit to the optometrist is something I usually look forward to.  I made that visit a week ago and I wasn't disappointed.  He always has such nice things to say, like,"There are people who would kill to see like you can."  How could I be disappointed with a verdict like that?  Because I can't see!  OK, I don't need glasses for distance vision, and even for near vision; only if I want to see something closer than the length of my arm.  When I was a kid, I didn't get the joke, "I don't need stronger glasses, just longer arms."  Now I get it. I went through several years of reading glasses, but there comes a point when you can no longer stand looking for one of the 23 pairs lying around the house and you just want something better.  Presbyopia he said.  The gel in your eyeballs is thicker and the focusing muscles can't change the eye's shape as well as they used to. Reading is out of focus, like looking through water, blurry and indistinct.  The alternative to reading glasses is progressive lenses, like bifocals without the line.  The top, for me, has no prescription and the “sweet spot” has the reading lens.  You just don’t take them off so you don’t lose them, and they are always there allowing you to read without putting on the glasses you can’t find.  This sounds like whining to those who have had to wear glasses for their whole lives.  And it is. 

For a little clarity.......