14 March 2006

please pass the Dramamine

My glasses broke on Sunday.

I know, I know. Everyone says the same thing. "Can't you wear your old ones for the time being?" Well, yes and no. I'm monstrously nearsighted, and monstrously presbyopic. I've worn glasses, full time, since I was 7.

My Varilux glasses have been a miracle. I remember looking down during a meal and being astonished because I could see my food. Before, I switched between distance and reading glasses innumerable times a day. The Varilux took a little (a lot) of getting used to, but once I was used to them, it was amazing, like getting a pair of real eyes.

My lovely little wire frames broke on Sunday. John tried to glue them, but they wouldn't glue. They wouldn't solder. I couldn't hold them together with tape.I can't replace them because eyeglass frames, like everything else in this image-conscious society, go out of style the way hemlines rise and fall . My 4-year-old frames might as well be antiques.

My new frames are titanium. They had better last forever. Titanium, I read, "is marvellous in fireworks." Great.

In the meantime, however, I am utterly seasick. I can't read, I can't knit, I can't see to part my hair. My old reading glasses make things worse. I'm useless at work - I can see the computer screen if I push it far enough away, but I can't see my desk. Or my hands.

As for distance vision - half the time I'm seeing double. I realize that works out, mathematically, to normal vision, but - it's not. Trust me.

Let's hear it for our foremothers! I'm sure that any of them (I'm thinking of my own great-grandmothers in Odessa and Riga) would think that my current vision was miraculous. Imagine tatting, making lace, knitting Fair Isle, spinning, weaving, even buying bread, without the visual clarity that we've come to take for granted. Imagine chopping vegetables in a blur, cleaning when you can't see the dust -- What wonders I take for granted!

8 comments:

Stephanie said...

Oh what a pain! If I couldn't read or knit for a few days I would be really really grumpy.

Carrie K said...

Me too. And no, you usually can't wear your old glasses, not without feeling vertigo at the very least. I have an old, old pair that makes everything look like cartoon drawings, for some odd reason.

Pity you have to get new frames. I hope you like them.

chittavrtti said...

Oh how sad :( I recently discovered that my glass frames were broken only I don't need then as you need yours. I live in a fuzzy fuzzy world. Yes I do.

When you are better the volume you asked about is Book of Poems or Libro de poemas ***CV

Imez said...

I picked my husband a perfect pair of wire frames 6 years ago, now they're practically rotting off his face and there is nothing we can do...and all new wire rim frames and terribly metro.

I like your blog.

And I am completely hypnotized by the graphic under you "about me". So quiet and beautiful. What is it?

Paula said...

oooh I would be grumpy too!
I also hope you get your eyes back soon.

My "old glasses are so old (from the 80's)that my prescription has changed so many times so they are really not worth hanging on too, so I don't know why I do.

Nana Sadie said...

Like you, I have new ones on the way...not b/c mine broke but b/c the Rx has changed so DRAMATICALLY in 4 years that I've been virtually blind - a kind retina specialist suggested that I needed new lenses and ... HE WAS RIGHT! (Why couldn't the other - much younger - one figure that out?) But I hadn't realized how seasick you can get without the bifocals - till I realized that probably that's why I can't drive distances anymore...I don't have bifocals in my sunglasses (yup, those are the next ones to have made!)
Hope you're enjoying your Yin/Yang Kitty bag!
(((hugs)))

Maven said...

I think you should snap a pic of the new specs...

Possible title:

Occular Still Life

Hope you're doing well despite this setback!

Zee said...

Oh! I'm so sorry about your glasses. I know what a pain that can be. Actually, I believe it's almost that time for me to get new ones.

Fuzzy is only good on yarn. ;)

I hope you find a pair to love as much as this one.