I Can See Clearly Now (or, I Am an Idiot)

On Saturday I opened a new pair of contact lenses, as I do every month. When I put the right one in, I knew there was a problem. I could kind of see, but kind of couldn’t. With both lenses in, my eyes weren’t focusing completely. Sometimes it takes an hour or so for my eyes to get used to new lenses, so I decided to deal with it. I spent the day squinting, blinking hard, and shifting the right lens around my eye to get a good focus. Many strangers probably wondered why I was winking at them. Cheap me didn’t want to open another lens and waste one that might be just fine. Saturday night I went to bed with a headache in my eye.

Sunday I continued to deal with it. One minute things were clear, the next, fuzzy. Driving was an issue, especially at night. Monday morning I decided if I had to waste a contact, that was better than not being able to see for a month. So I pulled out my stash of contacts. As I did so, something dawned on me. I peered at the prescription information on the sides of the two open boxes. And I realized I had been wearing two left contacts. Feeling like a complete idiot, I quickly opened a right-contact box and popped one in. I then proceeded to wander around the house exclaiming, “I can see! I can see!” I felt like I did the day I first put on glasses and realized that trees have individual leaves and not green afros.

And why am I sharing this random tale with you five days before Christmas, you may ask? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any treats to photograph because I’ve eaten them all. Or maybe it’s because I wish all of the hard decisions I have to make in life could come into focus as easily as putting in a new contact.