Recently, we brought our mantle clock into a clock shop for repair. Afterwards, we both went into a bit of withdrawal, not having our clock on our mantle for us to check the time. We had not realized how many times we glanced at that particular clock throughout the day! So, in our frustration, we attempted to order a cheap clock to temporarily replace the mantle clock and each one we received just did not have not large enough numbers or numbers well defined enough for viewing for “yours truly” who had her cataract surgery delayed when covid came to town.

After ordering at least 4 different clocks “on the cheap” as a temporary replacement for our mantle clock, (and returning them because of lack of ability to see them) we finally settled on this one. What a joy to be able to look up at the clock and SEE the time easily! Old habits die hard, and even though our phones and ipad and computer display the time, our eyes have long been trained to look at our mantle clock more times a day than we realized. The clock repair man said it would be several months before our old mantle clock would be ready for pick up due to a long list of customers ahead of us! Yay for the clock repair shop’s success in the days of covid. We don’t mind waiting and we are glad for him that he has a strong small business going on.

It was over 4 months ago when I had my final eye measurement appointment in preparation for my cataract surgery. I was nervously excited about the prospect of having a surgery that would give to me the 20/20 vision I was not born with! On that March day, the eye tech went through the many tests and measurements required and then said “O.K. the Dr. will be in in just a minute”. As I sat there I could feel butterflies in my stomach as I nervously anticipated the next step.

When he entered the room, he sat down on his chair and said “We’ve been shut down!” I said “Excuse me?”…He repeated what he said and then went on to explain it was a new ruling by the governor because of covid. He had just heard the news himself and was still trying to digest it. I felt more sad for him than myself. So, I went home with glasses on my face to wait until the next possible time for surgery. It is now the third week in July.

I have always had very poor vision, and I still remember feeling a sense of amazement followed immediately by gratitude on the first day I received my glasses when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Once they were placed on my face, I could actually see the world with crystal clear precision! I was very young and my new improved sight was all thanks to my teacher alerting the school nurse who in turn alerted my parents that I had a vision deficit. My parents immediately took me in to the Optometrist in town.

After a series of tests, the Dr. wrote a prescription for glasses. When I finally got them and put them on, I was in slack jawed awe. I just could not believe my eyes! What was lost was now found in the way of the visual details of our world. All the way home I kept exclaiming in amazement at what I could see. For the first time, I could see the word STOP on the stop sign, so I excitedly spelled the word out to my Dad! I could now see that trees were not a solid mass of green, but actually consisted of many different leaves and branches. I saw a couple of deer sprint into the woods along the roadside where previously I would not have even noticed them. At school, for the first time in my life, I could read the blackboard all the way from my desk! Earlier times I would stay in at recess so I could copy an assignment off of the blackboard. On the way home that day, I could not stop chattering about all that I could now see! It was a miracle.

Through the years, medicine advanced and once in high school, I was fitted with contact lenses. Another miracle! No more heavy framed glasses for me!

Here I am now, so many years later and I am going to be having surgery for my cataracts and will have the latest internal contact lenses on the market which will give me multifocal lenses. I will be able to see close up, middle distance and far away. I will donate my glasses to the Lions club for some poor soul who has vision deficit like I had and who will be as thrilled with their new corrected eyesight as I was when I got my first pair of glasses. It is a nice gift to give to someone! Pass the blessings along.

For my part, I anticipate when I will be able to open my eyes in the morning and for the very first time, be able to see my surroundings with great definition! To say I am excited would be an understatement.

I called my Ophthalmologist to see if they were open for surgery yet, and they are! My appointment is in two weeks for remeasuring,with surgery soon thereafter. I hope this will all work out this time!

For now, as I sit here, I look at our cheap replacement clock and feel gratitude that I can even see it with my glasses. Yup! Large numbers easily seen despite the cataract! I am so glad I live in the modern western world where we have so much available to us medically. Had I been born in an African outback, I would most probably have been eaten by a wild animal by now while wandering about, and I would never have seen it’s approach!

Blessings come in all shapes and sizes and some of my greatest blessings have been teachers and school nurses and caring parents and good eye Drs, and those wonderful, creative people who figured out how to bring good vision to myopic people. There are so many people to be grateful for in the correction of my eyesight and some will remain nameless to me. Nevertheless, my heart is full of gratitude!

Thank you God for handing out so much talent to so many different people. we do need each other to feel whole on this earth!

Amen!

jjb/7/23/2020