I turned 54 back in July.
In my mind it was just another birthday.
Although I know that I can’t escape the march of time, sometimes I need a little reminder that I’m getting older and things don’t always work quite they way they once did.
A recent incident brought that point home to me and have become quite dependent upon them for any important documents that need reading. I see a lot of those in a day’s time.
For years I’ve worn reading glasses and thank goodness my wife works for an optometrist because she’s kept me pretty well supplied.
I generally try to keep a pair in the car, and another at work as well as a couple at home.
Over the years, I’ve managed to accumulate a good stash of reading glasses to fit my needs, but one Sunday I went to work I realized I didn’t any handy.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with trying to put together pages and read them for mistakes without glasses so I decided to go to local drugstore and buy a pair to get me through the night.
That turned out to be a big mistake.
For one thing, do you have any idea how hard it is to read the fine print on anything without glasses especially for people like me who are sight challenged?
At the time I was in a hurry so I found a pair that fit my general prescription need, purchased them and used them to get me through the night.
After that time, I occasionally pulled them out of the drawer when I was too lazy to go get a pair out of the car or couldn’t find them in my coat. I would wear them for the better part of the day and none of my co-workers ever said a word about them.
I have to wonder if my co-workers needed glasses themselves or just wanted to see how long I would walk around wearing woman’s glasses.
One day this summer, my son and I stopped by the office one day.
I don’t know the reason for the visit, but I do know I needed to pull those “desperation” glasses back out of the drawer and use them to read something.
That’s when my son looked at the glasses and started laughing. I knew he was laughing at me because I’ve heard that laugh lots of times.
He looked directly at me and said, “Do you know you’re wearing women’s glasses?”
I protested adamantly and said they weren’t women’s glasses.
“Then why do they have flowers on them?” he asked.
I took them off and found out he was right; the glasses did have pretty little flowers on them.
I think I should have been wearing glasses the day I went and bought them, but then I wouldn’t have been out shopping for glasses in the first place, would I?
I still have those “desperation’ glasses, but it’s unlikely that anyone else is going to see me wear them again.
And I have no intention of telling anyone including my co-workers who have watched me walking around wearing glasses with pretty little flowers on them, which desk drawer I keep them in even if they might need “desperation” glasses some time.



