Getting Old…er.

Hey! is that Jacquie?

I had dinner with a friend of mine. He had to read the menu to me because I couldn't find my readers.  I told him that I squint all the time, and he nodded and said, "and you get headaches, right?" And I said "Yes!  I do!" He said, "And you see best when you are looking through a pin-hole, right?" And I said "YES!  That is so true!"  He shook his head and said, "How long are you going to put it off?"

I knew what he meant.  I have ignored it and pretended it isn't a growing problem.  My sister has seen me stretch my face out with my hands after squinting all day and said, "you're going to get more lines, you know."  More lines?  Harumph.  But my eyesight is the ONE THING that hasn't gone south on me, the ONE THING that has never given me problems. It seems to me that when it goes, it is Katy-bar-the-door, because everything is going to go.  It will mean nothing works anymore, that I will need fixes here and there for the next fifty years.

Fifteen years ago, I noticed that the paper was always blurry on the bottom.  I mentioned this to someone who said, "No, it's not."  I lifted the thing up to show, and sure enough, it cleared up.  I went to the eye doctor the following week, convinced I had some horrible eye degeneration going on.  He examined my eyes, told me to go to Walgreen's and get some 1.25 readers, and to come back in a few years.  I never went back.

Now, I need readers to  read, but I also need something for distance.  There is a space about two feet from me in which I can see everything clearly.  Beyond that, I have to squint.  In front of that, I have to squint.  And as my pal said, it only gets worse.  He assured me it happens to everyone.  Yes, I know it happens to everyone.  But it doesn't happen to everyone until they are OLD.

I have to end this rant now because I have a headache from squinting at the screen.  What's the last physical hold out on your body?  Are you a glasses person, or contacts?  What's the thing you most dread about getting older?

More signs you are getting old, but I won't go there.

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