Thursday, August 28, 2008

What's that big letter at the bottom?

Recently I received my papers in the mail to renew my driver's license. In this state, if you have a vision impairment on your license, you must have your eye doctor fill in a form and sign it so you can send it in with your license form. It's more efficient I suppose than what other states do. Most of them have an eye chart they ask you to read. The thing is, you're in line so long that you can actually memorize the chart by the time it's your turn with the clerk.

Not that I ever saw the need to do that. I've been vision impaired since I was eleven years old. One day I could see fine. The next... boom! "You need glasses." Back when I was eleven years old, glasses were not cool. I mean they really weren't cool.

You remember those cat glasses? Yeah? Well, that's what I wore. White, blue, I think I even had a pair in pink. Then in high school they were brown--almost like hornrimmed framed. Ugh.

Still, they were an improvement over the white frames. Now I wear wire frames--what we used to call "granny" frames. Appropriate, right? Back when I was finishing high school, people like the Beatles wore granny frames. So I guess you might say that now I'm retro.


Ah, well. Kelly tagged me. Nope, I'm not gonna tag anyone. Most of the people I know have already been tagged. So here's where you find Kelly.

Six things nobody knows about me. Hmmm.

First off, if I tell you, then everybody will know them. Doesn't seem quite right, does it?

1) I used to have a photographic memory. I never had to take notes or any of that other junk.

2) I had a stroke and shazzam, it was gone. Strokes are not fun. Take your blood pressure meds!

3) When I had my stroke, I forgot how to tie my shoes. My granddaughter taught me. She was a lot more patient than I was.

4) I also forgot how to make chili. One afternoon I was standing in the kitchen befuddled about the next step. I had allllll the ingredients out and had chopped all the vegetables. But I had no idea what to do next. My second son came along and asked what the problem was. "I don't know what to cook first..." I was nearly in tears. Very sensibly he asked, "Why not put it all in the pot and cook it at one time?" So I did. It was the best my chili's ever tasted. And that's pretty much what I've done ever since. Simplicity. I love it.

5) I used to read with a flashlight under the covers. I've always loved books and reading. I love them more than sleeping and eating--which is saying something. My kids were used to finding me in the kitchen holding a book in one hand while I stirred dinner with the other. Sometimes--oh all right, most of the time--dinner was a little scorched.

6) I love to paint. I don't paint well, but I enjoy doing it, so I do. I think we should all be free to do things we love whether we do them well or not. I think more people should sing just for the joy of it. More people should pick out Chopsticks on the piano because they can. People should hop or skip or ride horses just because they want to. So... I paint.

How'd I do?

anny

9 comments:

  1. You did PERFECT! Love the chili story and the reading while cooking story, too. I've burned plenty of meals like that. Once I stayed up till 3 a.m. reading and was so tired when I stumbled to bed and crashed into the Christmas Tree. Everyone thought a burglar broke in or something.

    Hope you keep up with the painting.

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  2. I don't have a radio in my car so I sing to myself all the time. I enjoy it though I'm sure no one else does. Tough. It's my car. You don't like it, ride with someone else.

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  3. I was supposed to wear glasses as a kid for a short time but I never did. I hid them as kids do. Mum was furious when she found out. She was the only person who ever scared the crap out of me - and that was usually just by a simple look.

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  4. LOL:) My mom had glasses like that:) And the only reason I passed the eye exam for my driver's permit was while I was waiting, I noticed I could easily see the eye chart from where I was standing. But when I got up to the counter, it was fuzzy. Not a problem; I'd already memorized the letters!

    Love the chili story!

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  5. You did well!! And despite the funky glasses, you could see your beautiful eyes behind the lenses anyway.

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  6. I can't tell you how many suppers I've burned from reading while cooking!

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  7. You're amazing :-) You've come so far. I don't know...I think the glasses are cute.

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  8. I didn't know about the stroke, Anny. Sounds like you've done an amazing job at bouncing back.
    Yikes! I'm sorry to say, both pair of glasses looked disgustingly familiar. I started wearing them about the same time you did.

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  9. Sorry to hear about your stroke. I hope all the effects are long gone.

    When I was a kid I used to read books under my covers with a flashlight, too. Until my dad caught me and stopped it.

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