Take Your Time

The past month has been exasperating and exhilarating.  Cataract surgery has evolved to such an amazing "science", the procedure is commonplace and takes less time than brewing a pot of coffee.  I was very, very fortunate to have as my surgeon, one of the best in the NE.  Matter of fact, he is the doctor who patented the tool that makes the 'stitchless' surgery possible.  Eye  #1, the left, had suffered a serious injury nearly 40 years ago, which probably resulted in my need for cataract surgery at such a "young" (relatively speaking) age.  Of course, once one eye was thusly corrected, the other also needed to be done so I had a matched pair!  With just a small cataract, it could have waited a long time were it not for the vast difference in my vision after the first surgery.


So, right eye surgery was done two days ago.  The day following that surgery, that eye read the 20/20 line on the eye chart.  The left eye, one month later, is about 20/25.  I am very grateful ... and I have a lot  of work to do.  My entire world has changed and now I need to learn to function within it.


I've had poor vision and worn corrective lenses since 3rd grade.  I could always see close up, however ... one of those people who take their glasses off to do close work.  Now, I  see well from an arms' length away and farther, but the close up stuff is all a blur.  I will need reading glasses I'm sure ... but how will this new vision affect my picture-taking?  Auto-focus, no problem.  But often, I want to manually focus the lens to capture the image I WANT, not that to which the camera defaults.  Another learning process to be sure.  "Take your time", my husband says. 


I wonder if he knows how relevant that phrase is?  I have been marveling at the way I am able to see ~ it's like everything is new to me!!  Walking down stairs without a spacial divide; seeing the clock when I wake up without first reaching for glasses; chopping vegetables without having to keep my head at a "just so" angle to see through the bifocal.  It's all so new, so different.  Too much for my brain to immediately comprehend, I will have to learn this new way of seeing.   


When my eyes and my brain have once again found their harmony, I intend to go places, do more, see more, and live more than I have allowed myself to do in decades. I don't want to squander this gift I have been given.  I am going to take "MY" time ~ to be outdoors, to visit family and friends, to photograph the ordinary and the extraordinary, and to see the every-day world around me.  I rather feel like Scrooge after the visitation of the ghosts ... giddy with anticipation of all that awaits me!!  


Yes, this is indeed "MY TIME"; an amazing and unexpected gift of new sight that has also brought further insight.  We live but once ... I do not want my legacy to be of having seen every speck of dirt or dust bunny that needed tending in a house that will be standing long after my mortal self has passed on.  Life is too precious and fleeting to sequester oneself in a rut, no matter how well intended.  Take on a new challenge .... no matter how small! This is the only earthly life you get as far as I know, so live it:  see it, feel, it, smell it ... eat it up!   Get out ... take a hike, take a picture, take a trip ...  Take YOUR time ♥

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The soul would have no rainbow 

if the eyes had no tears