I,
however, am not so good at navigating the world without lenses in
front of my face. I have worn glasses for 60 years and not having
them makes me quite uncomfortable. When I had the first eye done I could still wear my old prescription.
When I had the second eye done my old prescription just made me
seasick but I still need glasses to read. Off to the drug store for
a package of 3. That solved the reading problem but what about when
I'm in choir and I want to be able to read the music and see the
conductor? I routed through the old glasses that I haven't yet given
away, mostly because I like the frames, and I found a pair of
bifocals that work very well for both conductor and music. I usually
put them on at the beginning of rehearsal and then forget to take
them off and drive home with them on. No problem really, but my long
distance vision is better without them.
I
don't have to wear glasses around the house unless I want to do close
work. I have a pair in my study, a pair in my purse and a pair in the
'reading room.' Still I find myself looking for my glasses or saying
to Richard, “Wait a minute I need to go and get my glasses in order
to read that.” This morning I misplaced my glasses for a couple of
hours. Luckily I have more than one pair. Eventually Richard found
them on his desk where I had taken them off in order to use the kind
of eye-drops he keeps handy.
I know there are hundreds of people who
are fine with finding and putting on glasses. I, on the other hand,
am not. I'm used to putting glasses on my face at the beginning of
the day when I wake up and taking them off at the end of the day when
I go to bed. I am not skilled at navigating in the outside world
without my windshields. When I've been out in the snow I've
repeatedly gotten snow in my eyes and it's much too breezy out there
even if there isn't any wind. Luckily I have a number of pairs of
sunglasses that fit over my prescription ones and stay on my face
without other glasses underneath. Sunglasses help to keep my delicate
little eyeballs protected from the elements. Also, it's embarrassing
and painful when I go to push up my glasses and stick my finger in my
eye. I've done that more than once.
As
soon as my eyes had time to adjust, I went to my optometrist. He
seemed surprised when I told him I wanted glasses, bifocals,
progressives, I didn't care as long as they were the all-day,
everyday kind. I took in an old pair of frames and my new glasses are
on order.
To
be fair, I have noticed some advantages of not having glasses. If I'm
doing something messy I don't have to clean my eyeballs several times
a day. When I bend over a hot oven or dishwasher my eyes don't fog up
and they don't fog up when I come in from the cold. I no longer need
glasses to drive although I have yet to go and get the that condition taken off my license. All of these things are handy but,
for me, don't outweigh the comfort I have with wearing glasses. I'm
looking forward to having my glasses back. They are old an old and
faithful friend and I'm loyal to them.
