We both went to the eye doctor this past week. The doctor has been predicting that I\u2019d need cataract surgery very soon for the past several years. Once again this year he seemed a little disappointed \u2014 while I do have cataracts, they haven\u2019t gotten bad enough yet to require surgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He seemed surprised that I could read almost all the letters on the eye chart\u2026 I told him that it was easy, I had memorized them from last year. I\u2019m not sure he believed me, but he switched to a chart with numbers and had me read those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got to thinking about the first time, a long time ago, that I thought I might need reading glasses. We lived in Vienna, and I had never gone to an eye doctor in that area \u2014 in fact, I hadn\u2019t been to any<\/em> eye doctor in years. Anyhow, when Kelly was a baby, she had what looked like a freckle on the white part of one of her eye, and the baby doctor sent her to an eye specialist to check it out. (The freckle turned out to be nothing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when I began to have trouble reading small print, since we weren\u2019t familiar with any other eye doctors, Claire called the doctor we had taken Kelly to, and asked if they did eye exams. They said they did, so I made an appointment. In case I didn\u2019t mention it, this doctor specialized in rare eye diseases and complex surgeries, like transplanting eyes and things like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n After examining my eyes, the doctor said, \u201cwell, frankly, I don\u2019t know what your problem is.\u201d (Obviously when he found out I didn\u2019t need an eye transplant, he wasn\u2019t interested.) I said that I seemed to have problems reading small print. The doctor\u2019s response was, \u201cwell, s**t, that happens to everyone when they get old.\u201d I acknowledged that that was probably true and said, \u201cI thought maybe I might need reading glasses or something.\u201d The doctor said, \u201cyea, that\u2019s probably a good idea.\u201d By this time I was getting a little frustrated and said, \u201cdo you know where I could get some?\u201d His reply: \u201c Well, I can write you a prescription\u2026 but I\u2019d just go to Ben Franklin.\u201d\u00a0 I said that I thought Ben Franklin was a five and dime store. He said that it was and I should go there and they have a big rack full of reading glasses and that I should get a number 29 \u2014 he even wrote a big \u201c#29\u201d on a prescription form and handed it to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I got home, Claire asked me how the appointment went \u2014 needless to say, I wasn\u2019t happy and said something like, \u201cI paid this guy $80 to tell me to go buy a pair of glasses at Ben Franklin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it turns out that there weren\u2019t very many Ben Franklin stores in the area, but we did have something called People\u2019s Drug Stores \u2014 a few days later I was in People\u2019s and they had a rack of reading glasses. They had various numbers and I found a pair that had a tag with #29 on them. I put them on and took a credit card out of my wallet and the small print on the back of the card literally \u201cjumped out\u201d \u2014 I could read it very easily. Obviously I bought the glasses \u2014 I think they were $9.95. I went home very excited and started reading all the small print I could find. I suppose Claire was pleased, but I don\u2019t think she shared my enthusiasm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, number 29s don\u2019t do the trick anymore \u2014 I just give up on some small print and convince myself it probably isn\u2019t very important anyway.\u00a0 We both went to the eye doctor this past week. The doctor has been predicting that I\u2019d need cataract surgery very soon for the past several years. Once again this year he seemed a little disappointed \u2014 while I do … Continue reading
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"