Eye eye eye
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- December
- 11
I broke down last week and got reading glasses.
Actually they’re progressive lenses with all different zones for different distances. And already I’m giving up.
The woman in the glasses place told me to follow my nose, moving it toward whatever I wanted to see. “Like a dog?” I said. She didn’t laugh.
But I can’t seem to sniff my way around this office without bumping into walls. So I’m not wearing the glasses. Yet.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’ve been struggling for a few years with an inability to read small print. So I just stopped reading certain books. And magazines. And the inserts that come with prescription drugs. And lipstick labels. But there comes a point where you have to admit defeat  and stop pretending you’re a kid.
Have you found yourself resisting certain things that will make your life easier  just because they’re an outward manifestation of your middle-agedness?
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 3:12 pm by Linda Lombroso.
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Baby boomer Linda Lombroso was born in Queens and grew up in Port Washington. She began her journalism career at New York Magazine and Rolling Stone, and came back to the field after spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mother. Linda joined The Journal News in 1997 and has been a Life & Style writer since 2000. She has three children.
My hat is off to you! So are my progressives! I just couldn’t get used to them…but I may have to, soon. I’ve put several pair of reading glasses around the house. But now the problem is that I don’t remember which ones are 1.25, 1.50 and 1.75.. so I’m not helping myself. My eyesight is getting ‘progressively’ worse and I’m resisting big time.
I was told that I needed reading glasses at the ripe old age of 39 by my optometrist. I refused. Then, I enrolled in graduate school to get my Master’s Degree. Having to read tons of research annotations in tons of research annals, I caved. Out went the contact lenses for good. On went the reading glasses, though I still REFUSE bifocals/progressives. I fear the day is coming though as I find myself squinting every now and then when the print is (seemingly) a miniscule blur and I find myself ripping off my reading glasses in ‘blind’ fury. ::sigh:: It’s no use, is it…..?
It took me a while to get used to my progressives – if you look up or down too quickly, do you get dizzy? I did. But after about a month of wearing them consistently I got used to it. I too was told to follow my nose, and once I actually figured out what that meant and how to do it, my adjustment went much better. I’m all but blind without my glasses – I had no choice…
Doreen—I also can’t see without glasses or contacts. With the progressives they told me to follow my nose. I actually felt nauseated at one point and kind of dizzy. But I guess I should keep them on and stick it out. I haven’t been wearing them at all.
Glory Be—weren’t you sorry to see the contacts go? They say you can put reading glasses over contacts, but I don’t do that either!
Teresa—funny about all those pairs of reading glasses. My husband has a pair in every room but he can never manage to find one. He keeps buying new ones.