One of the bummers of getting older is the dependence on things like glasses. For the past several years my eyesight has been deteriorating, especially my near vision. Each year I go to the eye doctor, I leave with a stronger prescription. I have only been wearing glasses full-time for a couple of years now and the truth is I just wanted to return life as it was before glasses. As I told people that I wanted contacts, they would inevitably say “Can you touch your eye?” Well, of course I can touch my eye for crying out loud. I’m a girl who wears make-up. I’ve been digging mascara chunks out of my eyes for years. So when I went to see Dr. Voci I told him that I was there for contacts. “Can you touch your eye?” That again? I was determined to do this and thought it should be a piece of cake. I’ve seen people put in and take out contacts before. There was nothing to it. So I proudly went to the other room for my contacts lesson. Dr. Voci’s assistant Michelle taught me all about my new contacts and their proper care. She explained how to hold my eyelashes and “stare-stare-stare.” Well I’m here to tell you that apparently, I cannot touch my eye. There’s definitely a difference between removing stray eyelashes and putting a tiny piece of plastic on your eyeball. After a few frustrating attempts, I got them in. She then told me to take them out. Whew. What a challenge. I don’t care how tightly you hold you eyelashes, if your eye wants to close, it’s going to close. Later that night I worked on getting them out again. I took deep breaths. I prayed. I thought I was going to have to return to the eye doctor in shame to have my contacts surgically removed from my eyes. I did eventually get them out and retreated to the safety and comfort of my glasses for the night. Day two arrived and I had to put them in again. “Stare-stare-stare” I thought. Once I got them in I could tell something was wrong. I took them out and put them in again and again. Finally I called my friend Jessie (who claims to be able to put her contacts in in the dark). “I can’t do it!” I cried. “It feels like I have a fingernail in my eye!” After a quick tutorial from her, I took a deep breath and tried again. I was finally successful. It’s been a few weeks now and I can put in and take out my contacts fairly easily. It may seem silly, but contacts have enabled me to feel like I’ve turned back the clock just a little bit. Sure I had to step out of my comfort zone and do something that was difficult and took time to master, but in the end it was worth it.
Published August, 2011
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