New Glasses

6/20/12

New Glasses

Friends:

I know some of you wear glasses - and others of you - will eventually.  At least by the time you get your glasses your friends will hopefully have matured enough not to call you "Four Eyes"!  I have been far-sighted all my life and without the use of prisms, see double, which is a truly fun experience.  If somebody talks to me when I have my glasses off I hold one eye closed otherwise there are two mouths and literally four eyes in front of me.  

I own a lot of glasses now: computer, reading, "regular"and sunglasses.  I gave up years ago trying to figure out what street signs said until I was on top of them.  And it was a given that the white letters on a red octagon sign said STOP. Don't worry I do eventually get close enough to objects to be able to read the wording.  And if you have been a loyal reader you will know that I haven't knocked down a stop sign since I was about 16 - pretty good track record I think.

What was beginning to bother me recently was that I couldn't see anything (okay that may be a bit of an exaggeration) up close.  So off I went to the eye doctor with trepidation for two reasons:  (1) those stupid drops that turn your eyes into cement; and (2) the pending thought of how much new glasses were going to set me back financially.  I lived through the cement period and received new prescriptions that would allow me to see tiny print.

With my new prescriptions in hand, I went to my local optician to get new LENSES because I can't afford to replace my frames every time my prescription changes.  I had several old glasses sitting around the house collecting dust and decided to turn them into additional pairs of reading and computer glasses.  I have to have computer glasses at work and should have them at home and reading glasses and me are never in the same spot at the same time.  So brilliant recycling thought on my part - turn those rather plain (okay just down right ugly) glasses into back-up glasses.  Notice I buy back up glasses for everything except for my "regular" glasses!

Last weekend I went down and picked up several pair of glasses that were ready and whether they were reading, computer or my regular glasses it was all good.  I could SEE everything down to 20/20 with both my reading and computer glasses and I was jazzed.  

I have not changed the prescription in my sunglasses since 2005 and there have been several "tweaks" in my prescription since then.  However, I loved my sunglasses just they were and was always afraid to mess with something that was working (most of the time).

Yesterday I went in to have my new lenses dropped into my sunglasses (partly because the lenses hadn't been cleaned since 2005) and I was so excited.  My new "regulars" allowed me to see so well that I knew my sunglasses would be fabulous.  The place was busy so after the new lenses were in and my credit card slipped across the table for the final installment to pay for 6 sets of lenses, I walked out.

I had always avoided putting bifocals in my sunglasses since I didn't think it was necessary; but, now sometimes when we're flying Jeff will ask me to read something and I have to take my sunglasses off, find my reading glasses and by then he's already figured it out by himself.

Yes, back to yesterday.  I walk out of the store and halfway across the parking lot thought I was going to be sick I was so dizzy.  I, decided that it must have something to do with the new bifocals so I walked on to my car.  Once inside the car everything was just slightly (or a lot) out of focus and my world was fuzzy.  Still, based on my medical degree from the back of a cereal box, I decided it must be the bifocals and I plodded on.

Traffic was light - a good thing - because my world was getting out of focus fast.  Yes, I could have put my "regulars" on but I was "breaking" in my new glasses or so I thought.  When I got home I quickly placed a call to the optician asking them not to throw out my 2005 lenses because there was something definitely wrong with my new lenses.

Jeff drove me back down and when I handed the sunglasses over for the lenses to be read by some little machine, the clerk came back and said that an error had been made - on her part.  She ordered my sunglasses with bifocals on the bottom and my reading prescription on the top!  It's a small wonder that I got home at all.  She apologized for she knows how much I've avoided screwing with the sunglasses; but she promises me that on Saturday when I pick up my new lenses I will be thrilled.  I hope so people - if not then you better stay off the road.

P