Here's LOOKING at You, Kid

At about age 40, my arms started getting too short for reading. I went to the eye doctor and was prescribed some reading glasses. Wow! What a difference. But, before long, I realized how inconvenient it was to have to put on, take off, stash away, find and pull out these glasses, to which I quickly became dependent, every time I wanted to read. So, for the first time, way back in the early '90s, I tried a pair of graduated (progressive) lenses, thinking that leaving those spectacles on my face all day, and looking out of the clear glass for distance and the prescription glass for reading would be just the ticket. Not so! I hated them. Everything I looked at was distorted, I had a hard time walking on a straight path, much less up or down stairs, and I ended up with a crick in my neck whenever I worked at the computer. So it was back to the on-again-off-again reading glasses, for many years.

After we moved to Albuquerque, I thought I'd try progressive lenses again. Maybe the first doctor hadn't fit them properly. For one entire month I wore my new progressive glasses all day, every day. And at the end of the month I set them aside, declaring them another failure, and went back to reading glasses. By this time (after 15 years) I had quite a collection of reading glasses, some stronger than others and some just drugstore readers, but all helpful to some degree. So I kept them all over the house -- a pair by the computer, a pair on my night stand, a pair in the kitchen, a pair on the end table in the family room, a pair at work, and a pair in my purse. And still I would end up looking high and low for some when I needed to read a package label or a coupon expiration date.

Recently I was thrown a new kink. My distance vision was beginning to need correction as well! Oh, my. What to do?!

So, this fall, I bravely decided to try a new approach. I was fitted for monovision contact lenses. (Interestingly, those are what Dan wore for a long time, before his cataract surgeries. He no longer needs any correction.) Monovision means that one eye is fitted with a lens for reading, and the other eye fitted for distance. I was dubious that it would work. First of all, aren't I a little old to start wearing contact lenses? And secondly, would I really be able to touch my eyeball to insert and remove contacts? And could I possible stand to have different focal lengths for each eye?

The first prescription I was given for a two-week trial wasn't quite right. Each eye worked great, independently, but they didn't work together. As I told Dan, my vision was "wonky!" But on Wednesday I went back and the doctor adjusted the prescription in both eyes and, voila! They work perfectly! I'm so happy to put them in in the morning, and be able to drive, read, do computer work and other tasks all day, never having to hunt for a pair of readers.

I'll even be able to read to Sweetpea, without first hunting up some glasses, when I see her next month. YES - next month! Kelsey has invited me to come at the birth of the new baby. She didn't have to ask me twice! These Grandma-eyes will drink in every little wrinkle and dimple on that baby; and all the changes in Sweetpea, since I saw her last, in early February.