Thursday, November 02, 2006

Reading Glasses

I finally gave in and admitted I needed glasses. A few months back I went to the eye doctor, and a couple of days later, I had my glasses. He said I only needed them for reading. I will admit I spend lots of hours a day either writing or reading, so I guess my eyes deserve a break since I am mumblemumble years old.

I thought reading glasses wouldn't be bad at all. I wouldn't have to wear them all the time. Reading glasses were surely better than the kind you have to wear from the moment you wake up until you go to bed.

WRONG!

They are awful!

I'm one of those people who usually has five things in the fire at the same time, so I'm almost never just sitting here writing or doing e-mail. I keep the TV in the room going and glance up to watch what ever, especially if I'm doing e-mail or working on my website. I have my desk in kind of a center spot in the house, so from where I sit I can see into the kitchen, into the living room, and even into my daughter's bedroom a little. Family members pop through and ask me this or tell me that, dogs come up wanting in and out, I lean forward a little and glance into the kitchen to see if I really did cook the flame out from under supper, ect... The same thing happens if I'm reading a book or doing paperwork or paying bills.

Well, with reading glasses, it turns out doing other things at the same time isn't as easy as it used to be. As long as I'm looking right at what I'm writing or reading, all is great with the world and my eyes hurt so much less. But...if I have to look up to see who is coming in the door, or to talk to someone, or even to see what one of the dogs is doing, or what's happening on TV, it's a whole other story. While the words look fine, looking any further away that a foot, means every thing just blurs out of focus, so every single time I look away from my papers, computer, or book, I have to lower my glasses. In my situation, that can be every couple of minutes sometimes. That means instead of typing on or trying to read on, I have to completely stop, lower or remove my glasses to see who or what I want to see, then when done, put the glasses back in place. Talk about slowing me down. I think it will be better when I just move up to the kind you have to wear all day. At least I'll be able to put them on and leave 'em there until I'm done with my eyes for the day. (Smile)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charlotte, I am one of those people who has been wearing glasses 16/7 since the age of 9 but recently I was assured I needed "computer glasses." Bad choice! They are great for the computer but, as you, I am doing umpteen things at one time and you cannot glance at the TV or read an article with these glasses! So--most of the time they reside in the case beside my computer and I go about my seeing life as I always did. Good luck with the reading glasses.

Charlotte Dillon said...

I'm glad it isn't just me. I thought maybe I was just strange. (Smile)