In his usual inimitable style, Seth over at the Altered Page has come along with yet another 'blogworld must-do'....ergo to dig back into your old blog posts and find something that really floats your boat and is worth re-visiting.
Hmmm ... since I have been blogging since August 2005, have posted 703 entries, had 3,169 comments and 50,161 visitors.......trolling back through that lot is no mean feat, however I given that I am off to have my increasingly blurry eyesight tested (again) on Saturday - I figured the following post which was featured a couple of months ago in Artful Blogging might be rather apropos!
January 14, 2008
As my birthday looms and I get towards the end of the "40" something digits I find that I am getting more comfortable with my 'older' self - in most ways at any rate.
Inside there will always be the teenager who liked to flirt with the cute boy at the front of the Physics class and who snuck off to the locker room to hike up her gym slip just a bit further than Mother allowed..the twenty something girl who thought the world was her oyster and traveled and partied hard, the thirty person who "thought"? she had it all figured out enough to have a couple of children and be totally grown-up and self-sufficient and then the 40'ish gal, all sophisticated and sorted out (ha!)...
So mentally I am comfortable with all that has been going on, what I did not count on was that the "machine" might fail along the way, and in places that I had not imagined!
I'm ok with the laughter lines and shopping for bras that have more ah-hem 'support', what I CANNOT deal with is not being able to SEE properly!
I woke up about a year ago and was quite unable to read the phone book...oh hell and darn, so a pair of flash new spectacles was the only solution. But even a year later I find it to be the most frustrating deterioration of what has been a perfectly good bod' up until now.
How do you read the tiny fine print on the back of the bottle of goop you have bought for your hair, sopping wet in the shower? and I never remember to take the 'specs' shopping, so in the book store today all I can do is look at the pretty pictures and heave a sigh of relief when it's time to go elsewhere. So frustrating!
Eyeeyeeye...if only to have 20-something eyes again!
Thanks Seth - for yet another fun and interesting challenge and I look forward to reading the rest of the buried treasure that is linked to The Altered Page!
I love the "?" altered photo, sketch, painting? These old eyes can't tell! I never take my reading glasses shopping and end up asking complete strangers, "how much is this?" I find the older I get, the more comfortable I am in my skin...but that may be because is it looser! Whatever.
Posted by: Deborah | July 16, 2009 at 11:19 AM
I couldn't agree more. Who cares about gray hair and wrinkles -- give me back my eyes!!!!!
Posted by: Vicki in Michigan | July 16, 2009 at 11:40 AM
It's so 'funny', because I know exactly what you're talking about, even though I've had glasses since I was 8 years old! For decades, my eyesight hardly changed, only my glasses style did. And then, all of a sudden... BOOM. Constant changes. Slight, but annoying.
Nice EYE!
xo
Posted by: Chris | July 16, 2009 at 07:19 PM
What a familiar feeling, I now, at 60, can't go anywhere without my glasses. I too have to read the labels before I get into the shower, and have to resort to a magnifying glass AND my glasses when it comes to reading labels on vitamin bottles etc.
Love your painted eye.
Posted by: robruhn | July 16, 2009 at 07:26 PM
I understand perfectly,why do you think I go to Vietnam so often,EYES are a third the price of ones purchased in Australia and they are ready the next day, with tea and very polite assistants. M OXOX
Posted by: mother bear | July 17, 2009 at 07:32 AM
great painting - you are the same person, no, but wiser...regards from nyc...
Posted by: john | July 17, 2009 at 11:09 AM
How funny - I picked your blog at random from Seth's list and looked into your eye - my little signature. However, typically there aren't any pic sigs on your blog! Take a peek at mine and you'll see what I'm rambling on about!!
Posted by: Lisa | July 17, 2009 at 04:34 PM
I thought I was the only one stoping strangers and asking them to read for me. I always enjoy your blog.
Posted by: Ginny Gaskill | July 18, 2009 at 11:15 PM
I remember this post!
Now I don't even carry the glasses in the case, I just stuff them in my purse naked. I need light and my close-ups! I hope that will be enough for awhile. Oh yeah, I even got a compliment while wearing them. Now I'm not sure how to take that but I will take it as a sign that I have good taste in close-up glasses. Otherwise I might cringe.
Posted by: Catherine Witherell | July 19, 2009 at 06:56 PM
This post is great! It reminds me that I'm so lucky as I age. For years I was so near sighted, I could barely see past my nose and never could see the blackboard. Eye docs kept telling me my eyesight would actually improve with age. They are right. I can now see the fine print without any glasses. Your post brought so many wonderful feelings to mind. Thanks for this/
Posted by: Bleubeard and Elizabeth | July 19, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Great eye! Really wonderfully drawn and perfect for this humorous post. Humorous because it is so real and relatable. SO glad you dug for this treasure!!
Posted by: Seth | July 20, 2009 at 10:03 PM
My eyes are fine, but all my joints are seizing up, when I go backpacking now I have to hobble around for a hour or so while I loosen up!!
Posted by: deb | July 22, 2009 at 06:43 PM
wonderful re-post ... really wonderful. thank you for digging it up for us. :)
Posted by: 3rdEyeMuse | July 23, 2009 at 09:03 PM