SOLD

I was lucky enough to get my dad’s eye genes, rather than my mom’s extreme nearsightedness, but unfortunately I didn’t get my dad’s vision longevity. At 78, he only needs glasses to read fine print, but even though I’m decades younger, my far distance vision isn’t as sharp as it used to be, so I recently got an eye exam to get my first pair of prescription glasses.

The optometrist kept dropping lenses in front of my eyes and asking, “Is this clearer?” [snap] “Or this?”

I had the darnedest time telling! Everything looked slightly doubled no matter which lens I was looking through.

Turns out I have an astigmatism. Rather than being spheres, the lenses in my eyes are football-shaped.

It also turns out that although my prescription is very light, I actually need three different lens focal points to get through my day. I’m now the proud owner of several pairs of glasses: progressives, bifocals, computer glasses, and several “cheaters” (as my cousin Lucy calls them) from the drugstore, all for different purposes.

Mom, meanwhile, grew up with the proverbial “Coke bottle glasses,” but had cataract surgery several years back. At certain angles, her pupils reflect an odd light, making her look like a cyborg. But for the first time in her life, her eyesight is practically perfect without glasses or contacts.

She loves to gloat over the rest of us former 20/20 folks that she now has the best vision of the family.

Me, I’m just grateful that prescription glasses exist. And most of all that I can still see color.