Writing With Glasses

I always prided myself on my vision.  I was 20/10 and 20/15 when I was in my 20s and 30s.  I liked being able to tell people my vision was better than perfect.  I could read all day long and write all night long, and my eyes kept pace.

Then I started getting old.

Around about 2013, I noticed that I couldn’t read close up anymore.  However, being the stubborn bastard I am, I resisted going in and getting seen until it was no longer possible to read unless I pushed the book as far out in front of me as I could.  That’s when they told me I needed reading glasses.  Yup, thanks God – love the design that breaks down with age, along with all of Your other physical gifts(I mean seriously, do we really need to pee several times a day?).

Over time, my eyesight has only gotten worse.  I’ve had to start writing with these damn things on.  As anyone who wears glasses intermittently will tell you, wearing them for long periods – pretty much required to read or write anything substantive – makes your eyes tired.  Beyond that, once you take the glasses off, your vision is screwed up for a couple of hours afterwards too.

This has made writing a bit more of a chore than it once was.  I still enjoy it, but I can’t go for the marathon sessions I used to.  I wish this could be corrected, but I’ve bene assured that this is just the way things are as we age.  I still have excellent vision when not reading something up close, but I love to read, and I love to write.  That makes this fatigue a necessity.  And that just sucks.

Okay, gripe-fest over for now.