Seeing Eyes

     It's past midnight, I'm sitting on my couch wrapped in my snuggie and text books are spread around me
like chunks of wood waiting to be thrown in the fire.  I know the pages I am staring at must be absorbed
completely and accurately by the next morning.  Not enough time, just not enough time, certainly not enough
time to let this sink in.  Once again I flip the pages back to memorize the mayhem and I take a sharp breath.
 My eyes are so weary that the pages are unreadable.  I simply cannot do this with my organ of sight tuned
into blur mode.  I dropped some Visine and closed my lids for a few seconds.  I never realized how
frustrating the lack of vision could  really be.
     I thought of my grandmother, who suffers with macular degeneration.  This hideous, incurable disease
damages the center of the retina, also called the macula.  The eyesight becomes compromised and quite
blurry because the macula makes vision sharper and more detailed.  How horrible it must be for a person
gifted with poetic talent and outstanding writing abilities.  I have never seen my grandmother without a book
in her hand or at her side.  I recently learned of her final requiem.  She is now unable to drive and must hang
up her car keys.
    I thought of my mother who has lived since childhood as a diabetic.  The countless eye injuries and
surgeries she has endured just seem natural to me.  Although she often has vision in only one eye, she
continues to persevere.  She once told me that people just do not realize how vital eyesight really is to an
individual.  It effects absolutely every moment of every day in every way.  Listening to her version was much
more interesting than watching her struggle with the everyday tasks that I had witnessed repeatedly, and had
taken for granted as normal for mom.
     Try to put your makeup on with just one eye.  The foundation is tricky, just keep rubbing.  The eye with
vision will allow the opposite orb to look lovely.  Practically perfect in every way.  When the blind eye is
doing the looking, expect crooked lines and the look of Frankenstein.  Don't even attempt to take a short
stroll on a brisk fall evening.  Without both eyes, the vision is distorted and a person lacks the ability to judge
distance. Therefore, steps going up become falls on the face, steps going down become sprained feet and
ankles.  God forbid there should be a rock or pebble on the path.  This become a major catastrophe such as
a full body fall to the pavement with multiple broken bones.  Exposure to bright sunlight disguises all objects
within the visionary vortex.  You must always wear sunglasses and immediately remove them when moving
from light to dark or outside to inside.  Stand in front of your television to switch the channels.  It is so
frustrating to attempt to switch channels when you simply cannot decipher the numbers or letters.  Always, I
mean always ask a friend to help with jewelry.  It's probably hard to believe a one eyed person would look
nice with baubles, but they really do.  Get a bright reading light to view the newspaper.  This must be done at
an angle because direct light eventually becomes one big bright spot on the newsprint.  Do not expect to be
able to sit and read a book from cover to cover.  Your one eye will overcompensate for the bad eye and
cause the brain to make your good eye work overtime.  Your eye will become very tired and the blind eye
will wander to and fro with a mind of it's own. When renewing your drivers license, just memorize the sound
of the clicks on the vision test.  The light is always on the same side as the click.  While driving, use the
mirrors with your good eye at all times.  Be prepared to suffer severe neck pain from swivel neck.  This is
caused from the whole body turn you must make to see oncoming lanes of traffic and who you must not
collide with in the next lane. If you have house pets that wander freely through the abode, expect to squish
their feet and toes often.  Eventually they will get sick of this and run to a hiding spot when they see you
stumbling into a room.  Last, but not least, expect to overlook just about everything while shopping. 
Two searching eyes are much quicker and penetrating than one  very tired and overworked eyeball.
      I realize mom makes light of her vision problems often.  Her best friend sent her a card with a pirate face
on the front.  Inside that card she had written a short note to take care of herself or she would punch her in
the good eye.  She laughed hysterically and I informed her I thought it was a sick joke.  She then informed
me her best friend was dyslexic and it had probably taken her hours to write that one simple sentence.  No
wonder those two get along so well.  One can't see and one can't write.
      As our conversation came to a close, I had to wipe tears from my eyes when I remembered what my
mother had last said on this subject.  She told me to remember all the years growing up when she had held
us, hugged us, grasped our hands, and gave us kisses.  Actually, she still does this, especially with the
grandchildren.  She told me her hands knew the touch of our bodies and she had memorized the scent of our
skin and could find us in a blind snowstorm.  As the famous quote from Helen Keller states, "The best and
most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.".