Distraction from Worry

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I was disturbed that my eyes did not adjust to new glasses after I wore them all day for two weeks. The woman at Walmart checked them for accuracy and urged me to go back to my doctor. I made the appointment after the weekend and was very pleasantly surprised that it was the following day. That greatly lessened my scope for worrying. Neighbor Shawn comforted me by saying you tend to worry more when you get older. I was good at worrying when I was young, and I must have reached perfection now.

No matter what I did, my mind kept dwelling on it. It was like a yo-yo. Give it up; pull it back. Repeat endlessly. It was marvelous that Shawn came over to sit with me on the porch in the sun. She welcomes the sun; I hide from it. We got uncomfortably warm, moved to the back porch, and returned when we cooled off. I was very grateful for the distraction, because I didn’t worry at all while she was here.

The morning of the appointment, daughter Kate called, which was a lovely distraction. My doorbell rang, and it was a dear friend from church coming to check on me. Glasses were the last thing on my mind as I enjoyed his magical story-telling. I knew his wife’s mother died in December, and they spent a month out of state dealing with that. They live closer to me than anyone else in church and have been very kind to me since John died.

What I didn’t worry about and should have was the weather. The day before, Shawn offered to take me to the appointment, but I was confident I could get home before it was dark. I hadn’t allowed for a very dark, rainy day. I asked if she could still drive me, and she was willing, even though it meant she might not be back in time for a church function. God bless my wonderful neighbors!

My appointment was after regular hours, so I went in to an empty waiting room and was taken within two or three minutes. One eye had changed slightly. I remembered to tell her that between her giving me the prescription and my wearing the glasses on my face, I’d had an injection for AMD in that eye. (Worry is good for something!) It could have caused the change. She knew I had gotten the glasses at Walmart and that they would change the lenses once in the first 60 days free of charge. She urged me to take advantage of it and to come back to her if I have any trouble with the new glasses. I was a happy camper and enjoyed chatting with Shawn all the way home.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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31 thoughts on “Distraction from Worry”

    1. I hope the new glasses will be good. Who knows when the eyes could change again? Today, wearing glasses is the same as not wearing them — the eyes are not working together.

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  7. I hope the prescription change will fix it. I worry about anything and everything. Maybe it’s because we have less control and have to rely on people more as we get older. This aging isn’t for sissies.

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  10. Anne, I liked this line in your post: “I was good at worrying when I was young, and I must have reached perfection now.” I worry more now than I ever have in my life. I put it down to getting older as well. Weather occupies my “worry pie” but there are other items too. You are blessed with your neighbors … I know I tell you that a lot, but it is so true.

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      1. Yes you are; me too Anne. We had that sleety mix, then got about four inches of snow, which was a bit heavy. Just as I came into the house, my neighbor went out to shovel his … coincidence, I think not. The snowfall predictions were diminished by the sleet. We have six to eight inches of snow this weekend, but thankfully arriving over three days’ time. I am ready for Spring!

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              1. Yes, I was hoping it would last. We have this three-day snow and ice event. We had about two inches of snow earlier today, but the bulk of it is coming overnight. My weather alarm has been setting off alarms and warnings a couple of times today. In fact, you’ll like this. I came inside and was inside a half hour and a beep went off. It was not the “chirp” for the smoke alarm. I thought “well at least the C02 alarm didn’t go off in the middle of the night.” Ran downstairs – it was fine, reading “00” like it is supposed to. It was the weather emergency radio nudging me to listen to what I missed. How did they know … you don’t press a button if you are here … the radio speaks the words. It is in my mom’s room in a corner, so I didn’t see it had its flashing red sign for “weather warning”. And the City called at 4:36 a.m. the other morning, after the first snowstorm. This is on the emergency set-up they have and the call comes in from Washington. It said “we will be salting, drive carefully in the meantime and have a good day!”

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                  1. Yes, I consult several daily as I am a weather worrier! So far with this storm I would say, we had six inches and it was snowing lightly when I was shoveling and now it’s snowing again through tomorrow morning. I’ve looked for storm totals, but they’ve not posted any yet. We are going back to the Deep Freeze tonight with -5 real feel tomorrow morning. Shoveling snow in that will be fun. I don’t like Winter to begin with, let alone this one!

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  11. Your new glasses are in the works. I hope you are okay now. Good support your friends. You are blessed with your neighbor.

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  12. Glad your eye doc listened to you. I told my (at the time) eye doc that there was no where I could look through the glasses they made and see better. They told me to wear them longer. I tried but really there was no spot in looking through them that was clear. I put the new expensive ones away as and went back to my old pair. Fast forward a few years because hubby and I take turns on eye and dentist appointments and don’t go every year unless there is an issue and low and behold when I got my new glasses made they told me the old ones did NOT match the Rx they were supposed to be for. Glad I switched eye doctors and where they are made. I hate not being listened to and the time and money that was wasted. Speaking of that, this is my year so I might just make that appointment soon.

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