N is for Nearsightedness

I started wearing glasses in Grade 5. I remember sitting in class one day, playing around, wearing someone else’s glasses and found I could see, surprise, surprise, that the girl in the hall was not only wearing a gray skirt, she was wearing a gray pleated skirt. This was the first time I became aware that I was missing out on the details of what I was seeing. I told my mom, but she didn’t believe me, not until the letter came from the school (they did visual screening on all students back in my day) informing her I needed to have my eyes checked. So, I got glasses. I picked out a blue pair with little rhinestones on the winged corners. That fussy frame stage didn’t last long; I switched to black for my next pair, it was a more mature look for high school.

Nearsighted means I can see close up, but not far away. I definitely need glasses to drive and should be wearing them all the time. When my very near vision began to fail, I was told I needed bifocals. So that meant glasses for distance and glasses for close up, and what a pain that turned out to be. I got the bifocals, with the invisible line between the two lenses, and found myself dizzy, and tripping all the time. My eyes couldn’t make the transition, so I’m back to the hard line between, and that seems to warn my brain about the change. Works for me…when I wear the glasses.

I seem to live my life in the middle world, for if I’m not wearing my glasses, that’s all I can clearly see. I can’t work on the computer with either the distance lens or the bifocal, and since I spend so much time on the computer I tend not to wear glasses at home. I leave them by the door, with my car keys, as they seem to go together.

The only good thing about all this is that I can read regular print, and I can still do most of my crafts without glasses. Since I watch, more like listen, to television while I read, write or craft, I miss a lot of the visual aspects of TV. I like to watch and re-watch shows, and have found there are always things I missed the first time around because of multi-tasking or poor vision.

Technology has changed that for me, I may need to wear my glasses for TV after all. With the new style of phones and the increase in texting, I’m missing out on a lot more because I can’t focus on the small screens. Like on Hawaii Five-O, the cop holds his phone out to a witness to show him a photo of a suspect. Or he shows his partner his phone to share who’s calling. And the texting, I can’t read any of that without my glasses, so I miss out on a lot. At least there’s an opportunity to catch it next time around.

I thought I was so smart. Last time I bought glasses I got the 2 for 1 deal. The first pair, black of course, I had made with my distance lens, and had them tinted so they went dark in sunlight and faded in the indoor light. I figured this solved the problem of sunglasses. I hate those creepy little lens covers that make any glasses into temporary sunglasses. This also saved me from changing back and forth from prescription sunglasses to regular frames.

But once I’m out, I’m wearing glasses and have to take them off to read tags in stores, menus, directions on the ATM. My friend wears her bifocals on a chain around her neck, and flips them on and off as needed. And that works for her because she doesn’t otherwise wear glasses. Once I take mine off in a store, I hang them by the arm in the neck of my shirt, not exactly safe, but handy.

The second pair I got were softer looking than the solid black. A nice brown multi tone, with round lenses. They reminded me of a pair I had when I was younger, ones I had thought were complimentary, and I hoped they’d give me a more scholarly, writerly look.

I was pleased with my purchases, until I met my daughter for lunch and she laughed, calling me Harry. Harry? What was that all about, I wanted to know.

It seems my new look was more wizardly then writerly. It shows my age that I didn’t immediately connect the frames with Harry Potter, but I’ll know better next time.