PORCH PONDERINGS

Day Four of The Bard's Hall Contest

Day Four of the Bard's Hall Contest is a cloudy cool day on the porch so I've moved indoors. This is the first day of the rest of my life with new eyes. What a concept. New eyes to see the world in a new light, and I do mean that quite literally.

It seems that cataracts can change your color perception. And mine made things more yellow. So now the whites are whiter and colors are more vivid. Quite curious. Reminds me of the frog in the boiling water idea, start the water off cold and it'll never know. The change is slow. It won't hop out to protest.

If you've never had cataract surgery, it is quite a procedure. Quick and painless, at least for me. It reminded me of a scene from the movie 2001-a Space Odyssey. There were bright lights, strange noises, flashes of color, and a comforting voice, not unlike the voice of HAL, the computer. But this was the voice of the eye surgeon informing me every step of the way. This is happening now, this is what is going on, you'll now see your new lens going in. And then it is over. You are wearing a clear plastic eye patch like the 21st century pirate you are and sent on your way with a pat on the head and a reminder to be good.

Today we go for the post-op one day check on the left eye, the week's post-op check on the right eye and then race back home to talk to the heating guy about our remodeling project. The rest of the day will be spent trying to figure out how to read and do computer work with my new sight.

Of course I checked out a huge Stephen King book from the library the other day. It was exciting to be back in the house of books again. I was like the kid in the candy store. Vivian, the librarian, was friendly as usual and chastised us for not putting on our masks immediately. Okay, fine. We have them, we'll put them on for you, Vivian. We were the only ones in the library at the time.

Now I pray my sight will be better in a few days so I can plow through that huge book and get back to typing again. Reading and writing are my life now. I don't want to be like that frog and slowly get used to not doing what I love.