Old age must be getting the better of me. I used to boast about my immaculate vision but now it looks like my ‘macula’ is working against me – pardon the pun. Luckily driving isn’t too much of a concern for me as I can still read signs from a far. Reading, on the other hand, is another problem. I used to be an avid romance novel and tabloid reader, but now when I pick up any book I find myself instantly put off by the fuzzy and out of focus words that jumble across the page. When I was younger I used to mock my dad for bringing the book close to his face before stretching his arm out as far as possible to read the page. This was something he would do to ‘focus’ his eyes. Personally, I always thought he looked ridiculous reading a book like that, but I’m now unknowingly imitating this same behaviour. To top it off, I caught myself zooming in on my phone just to read messages. That was the last straw so I knew it was time to book an eye test. Bentleigh is the next suburb over, and I drive through it after work each day so I figured I’d search for an optometrist I can visit on my drive home.
My optometrist explained to me that long-sightedness is something that is quite common in people over the age of 40 and it’s just part of the joys of aging. I can’t complain too much as it’s taken me to get to 60 years old before having this problem. On my way out I also noticed that they do eye tests for kids. I made a mental note of this as just the other day my friend mentioned he was looking for an optometrist for his children. Now it’s time to sit down with a good book and actually be able to enjoy reading it!