The good news: I just ordered a new pair of glasses. It's been more than 20 years since my last eye exam, more than 20 years since I last sat in an optician's show room trying on frames.
The bad news is that I have cataracts. They are not seriously affecting my vision, so I have no plans to rush into cataract surgery, but for the first time I feel officially "old." I've occasionally wondered at what point I would start to feet "old" -- would it be my first grey hairs? Nope, wasn't that.
Would it be turning 60? Nope, not particularly. I didn't "feel" old.
Getting Social Security? Yep, but not in a bad way. Qualifying for a senior apartment building? Nope, that's been a good thing. I no longer have to worry about paying the heating bill, the water bill, or the electricity bill.
And it wasn't qualifying for Medicare either, because that has meant I can actually see a doctor, regularly, without having to go without other things to pay for it.
So -- cataracts. Now I feel "old." And you know what? It actually feels just fine. Just this morning, on another forum board, a young woman posted that she was distraught because she found a stray hair growing out of her chin and oh! horror of horrors! Now she feels like a 90-year-old and she is terrified her eyebrows will get scraggly.
I wanted to give her a gentle shake and say get a grip. Wait 'til you get told you have cataracts. Of course, you won't be able to
see them ...
And of course, at the time I read her post, I didn't know I had them either ...
This one because I can still get down on the floor and get back up again!