EYES

I have good reason to be grateful to my eyes, given all the work they do for me.  I am dependent on them for what I read and write--though I am sure there are many who read and write perfectly fluently with braille--for my relationship with "visual" art and, indeed, for finding my way around the world.  And yet I am not very good at showing my gratitude to the eyes that are so good to me...

I was thinking about this yesterday as I sat in the optometrist's office, chin tucked in, forehead resting against the support, eyes focused forward through the lenses of the machine designed to test them.  I did fine with the bigger letters.  The smaller the letter, though, the harder the effort to get focused on it.  And the really little ones, a complete blur.  The right eye provided generally a clearer view than the left, and the doctor suggested the the imbalance makes both work a little harder.  Hence the difficulty I have maintaining attention on the page or the newspaper.  I came away from my appointment with a new prescription and the suggestion that I wear glasses all the time--which I have been reluctant to do, I think out of sheer laziness--and use glasses with larger lenses than the ones I have been wearing.

As I say, though I ask a lot of my eyes, I am not kind to them.  I am hard on my glasses.  Ellie treats hers with proper respect, with the result that they remain scratch-free and nicely polished.  I tend to take mine on and off a lot, drop them distractedly on had surfaces, stick them in a pocket when I'm not actually wearing them.  In a word, I am a less than conscious glasses-wearer.  Prescribed with great precision to benefit my vision, their suffices soon get scuffed and scratched.  Since I do not clean them often enough--and tend to wipe them with a shirt-tail when I do!--they cloud up on me and make my eyes' work much more difficult.

My eyes have repaid my neglect with soreness and blurry vision.  Time, then, to show my gratitude with a little more respect and care; and, the doctor says, to give them a bit more down time when reading or working on the computer.  Do any of my TBD friends have any useful tips?

It's a Luka day today, which means that my blog time is limited.  I sign off wishing you the best of all possible days and, as always, with gratitude.