Blurry

In my last blog entry I wrote about people with vision-impairment who I’d noticed in my neighbourhood. It got me thinking about vision. Vision is something I don’t take for granted. It’s very precious and can be easily lost. Or significantly dimmed. My eyesight started dimming when I was about 16. My glasses prescription was pretty weak though, just slightly indented glass. But when I was about 19 my eyesight started to rapidly go downhill. I was continually going back to the optometrist to get stronger prescriptions. I was worried I was losing my sight. I would get the doctor to check for a tumour. The doctor kept assuring me that I wasn’t going blind. Probably being at Uni didn’t help my weak eye muscles – not that I studied very hard. (But having a University degree has greatly helped me in life). Eventually my eyes settled, when I was about 22, and my prescription hasn’t changed since then.

If I didn’t have my glasses I would not be blind. I could get around, but I’d have to be very careful – I’d prefer not to have to do it. However, when I’m at home I don’t always wear my glasses, especially in the morning, before I need to see properly. The world looks quite different and interesting through blurry eyes. Objects take on new shapes and dimensions, sometimes blending into each other. My depth perception is a little off-kilter. I especially love to look at the trees outside my windows; the leaves are a haze of floating green, disconnected. My cat looks more furry. If I look at myself in the mirror my skin appears smoother. It’s always fun to see a brown mark on the wall because when I get my face nice and close to inspect it, it invariably turns out to be a spider. A giant, hairy spider*.

I have a question/dilemma I pose to myself occasionally (I have a lot of free time, and, being a weird loner – and possibly insane – but cute and cuddly insane - I often find myself in conversation with myself). If I had to chose between being blind or deaf, what would I chose? In the end I always chose deafness, but it’s a hard choice. I love sound – music, human voices, animal voices, wind, rain, strange creaking in the middle of the night – I get so much enjoyment from sound. But I think it would be harder to function day-to-day in this world without vision.


*Goliath bird eating spider:



Dinner:



The one that got away: