The focal point of this discussion: A vision for the future
“It’s time,” the doctor said.
I didn’t want to hear those words. I wasn’t ready. I’m the kind of girl who likes change in the form or rearranging furniture, not a permanent difference for the rest of my life. I didn’t want every single day of the rest of my life to be different. But doctors know best and so I sadly nodded and breathed a big depressed sigh.
As I walked out of the exam room, the front desk receptionist saw the look on my face. She smiled and waited to hear if I wanted to share the news. A friend for many years, I looked straight at her and said the one word I was so afraid of. “Bifocals.”
After squinting for so many years that deep creases have appeared in my forehead, having to use binoculars to watch my children play sports, and a sore shoulder from holding books as far away from my face as humanly possible, I wasn’t surprised that I had matured into the need for glasses.
I just didn’t want to accept the fact that I couldn’t just slather something in wrinkle cream and hair dye to cover up the signs of aging. But I had to because if I made the font any bigger on my phone, people across the room were going to know my private conversations.
I’ve never really had glasses before, and jumping straight into bifocals came with a lot of advice when I picked them up. They that it would take me a couple of weeks to get used to them. And even though I am not required to wear them all the time, they told me the more practice I had “aiming my nose at whatever I wanted to look at” would be good. After adjusting them to fit my crooked face, out the door I walked.
Suddenly I could see things I didn’t even realize I was missing. Things were clearer and sharper. I took their advice and pointed my nose at signs in the distance and a nearby tree and even at my shoes. I took out my phone and could easily see the letters as I typed “I can seeeeee!!!!!” to my friends and family. I looked in the mirror and thanked society for making glasses fashionable again.
While I didn’t really want to have the need for glasses, I know that they’ll help me have a clearer vision for my aging future. I’ll be able to more quickly spot a gray hair or a new wrinkle as much as I’ll be able to see to drive to visit our children and read the menu when we take them out to dinner.
It was time, if not past time. Call me four-eyes, and I’ll just smile.
Reach Karrie McAllister at mckarrie@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: McAllister: Bifocals sharpen eyesight, outlook on life
