Distraction from Worry

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.

Lunch on the Porch

Those were neighbor Joyce’s plans, to have lunch on the porch. I thought it was much colder than that, but I did have half my breakfast on the screened porch. I did not tarry, being driven inside by the wind. Hot soup might be a good choice for lunch. Alternate plan – stay inside to eat.

It’s amusing how one little thing can shake up your world. I’ve worn my new glasses for two weeks, and my eyes have not adjusted to them. The optician checked and said the lenses were the correct prescription. She suggested I go back to the eye doctor to make sure the numbers were correct. I have a niggling suspicion that one eye has degenerated (AMD – Adult Macular Degeneration).

Meanwhile, I moved closer to the computer screen. The reading part of the glasses forced me to throw my head back to an awkward angle. Awkward became painful. To gain height, I brought out the balance ball to sit on. Sneakers did not grip the floor, so I added a landing strip for my feet. So far I haven’t fallen off. If I do roll off, I’ll blame the new glasses. I refuse to admit I’m unbalanced.

Outings and Errands

Many weeks I take the car out only once. I shop at the supermarket and run errands in Waynesville. This week I had my annual appointment with the dermatologist in Clyde. As a reward for taking care of myself, I went a few doors down to Dollar Tree. Most things in the store cost $1.25. I was looking for Valentine dishes and a helium balloon. They had beautiful dishes for Thanksgiving last fall, but only red items for February. That was nothing special. There were no Valentine balloons, either. Normally I would look until I found something to buy, but this time I just walked out.

Practically next door was Burger King. I treated myself to a Bacon King burger. It was much bigger than I thought it would be, but I ate the whole thing. I saw a steady stream of cars stopping at the drive-through window. Inside, a new customer came in about every five or ten minutes. It was a slow time at 2:30. Since there wasn’t much to watch, I noticed Burger King crowns on every table. The one on my table demanded to be worn, so I took a selfie. It may have wanted me to wear it outside, but I drew the line at that.

Shelf Collapse

I was putting clean dishes on the middle shelf of an upper cabinet when one large plate rolled forward and fell to the floor. It was a plastic plate and didn’t break! I was mentally processing that, with eyes searching the board for the cause. One peg had failed, tilting everything forward. Amazingly, the board rested on six Corelle plates, upright in a rack. I gently removed all the dishes on the shelf and temporarily stored them in a bottom cabinet. Getting a new peg would have to wait, because I was in the middle of exploring a new laptop.

The old laptop was getting more unreliable by the day. The storage was almost full. It never had enough to space to begin with and was certainly not improving. Knowing the Windows 10 system was on the way out, I opted to spend Christmas gift money on a Windows 11 machine. I’m using it to write this. What a joy it is! The transfer was quite easy, probably because I already had OneDrive on the old one. It took over all my files and many settings. In a few days I’m going to see if it has room for all my permanent files currently on the old desktop. A bonus was setting up a connection with the telephone. I can type text messages that will be sent out by the phone, and I think I can now transfer photos from the phone directly to the computer.

Map of a Wild Bus Ride

The app Life360 automatically records a map of my travels, using my telephone to track me. I laughed when I saw it and compared it to my sedate ride home. The bus driver drove right by me, not having received the note that I would be at the end of the street. A green dot shows where the action began. There is an extra line, which must have been my pacing in front of neighbor Cindy’s house, waiting for the bus to come back by.

I added the blue dot to show where we picked up a man, and the two pink dots to denote our picking up two women. The three were dropped off at the red dot. We proceeded to my appointment near the brown dot. The recorded distance shows at the top – 25 miles!

A different bus brought me home. We went straight from the eye doctor’s office near the lake to my home. The distance was 10 miles.

Another Bus Adventure

Having had the bus company cancel my ride an hour before an appointment last week, I was taking no chances. Neighbor Cindy gave me permission to park in their driveway, the closest parking space near the entrance to my development. The bus company agreed to pick me up there. The woman I talked to said she would leave instructions for the driver.

I got up an hour earlier than usual to get ready, eat a little granola, and get the ice off the windshield of the car. It was 12 F (-11.111C). I couldn’t have been in Cindy’s drive more than two minutes when I saw the bus drive right by. It paused near the first icy patch, then continued toward my house. I was instantly out of the car and reaching for my phone. No one picked up the call at the bus company, so I left a message, hoping someone would get it. I began to pace back and forth on the road, hoping I could get the bus to stop for me on the way out. It was cold! The dispatcher did call and immediately let the bus driver know to come back for me. I stood in the middle of the road waving. I must have looked cold, because the driver turned up the heat.

I’m often the only rider in the bus, but today we picked up three other elderly people. The man lived in a trailer park near me. I asked if he had much damage from the hurricane. He said no, but the flood ripped off the front steps. Everyone had been evacuated. He was lucky to have friends living nearby who took him and his wife in. They stayed three weeks.

We picked up two women, obviously people who knew the man and each other. They were laughing and joking. If this had been a musical, we would all have burst into song as we rode along. They were discharged at Haywood County Respite. A woman at the door greeted them warmly by name, proving to me that they were regulars.

I usually have to wait a long time for the eye injection, but not today. I felt herded along to the small waiting room. Skipping the vision and pressure test, I was given the numbing drops. My eyes had to be closed after that, so I fumbled for my brand new glasses case and stowed my phone in a pocket. This was the first day I was wearing glasses after three years without. Somewhere along the way, I lost a knit purple glove. After the injection I stumbled along the hallway to the waiting room and sat down for a few minutes. I had hoped to use a very small space with windows overlooking the front door, but a man with two children had claimed the space. The bus could be a while, because there were no drivers free at that moment. I thought I was aware of all vehicular movement on the approach when I heard someone at the door asking if Anne Mehrling was there. Aaauuuggghhhh! I hated that the bus driver had to come inside for me. She was very nice about it.

On the highway I kept reminding myself to tell her where to let me off. It would have been embarrassing to get to my door and say, “Oops! Can you take me back to my car?”

I think I’ve earned a nap today.

My First Pun

When I worked an online puzzle recently, I recognized the answer as my first pun. I was about seven years old and would not know what a pun was for 12 more years. Even then, I didn’t connect the dots and recognize this misuse of a word as a play on words.

I was in the car with my mother, sitting at a parking meter in front of Harlan’s, a forerunner of a dime store. I had no shame and was singing aloud. “My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.”

I stopped and said to her, “That’s my favorite song.”

She wondered what I liked about it.

“It has ICING in it!”

Yes, I was actually singing “of the icing”.

I don’t know that Mother ever understood what I meant. I adored icing. I would do anything for icing. I am still addicted to icing. A smile will always be on my face whenever I sing “My Country, ’tis of Thee” because I will substitute ICING for I sing.

Oval Walking

After we had an icy snowfall, two neighbors checked on me to make sure I wasn’t planning to walk. I didn’t the first day because the road was white. There was a good chance there was ice under the snow. I was surprised the ice slid off my car when the sun shone on it. The next day I could see the road in front of my house was clear, and I dressed for the single-digit temperature. What a surprise to find the road white from Holly’s house to Joyce’s driveway! Finding it slippery, I turned back. It was a shame to waste all that layering of clothing, so I walked an oval path on the dry road to the end of the street and back. That is basically just in front of Logan’s house. After ten loops, I had walked half an hour and was willing to go inside.

After going through my morning routine, I decided to write this. When I got up to make tea, I told myself to walk an oval path inside the house, circling around an inside wall. That will be my rule for the rest of the day – to circle at least twice before sitting again. Although I haven’t changed the thermostat, the house is uncomfortably cool when I sit still. I’m wearing thermal underwear, street clothes, a warm throw that Linda made for me, and a thin blanket on my shoulders. Lurking just under the surface is the idea that I COULD climb in bed and snuggle under the winter duvet if my teeth begin to chatter. A cup of hot chocolate might come first.

I am Invisible!

I am not only invisible, I have photos to prove it. As soon as I woke up, I rushed to the French doors to see what the weather was doing. The forecast of snow was not living up to my expectations. There was only dreary rain. Wait! I now had an extra hour of the day, because I don’t walk in rain. I looked at the conditions outside and decided to delight in the freedom of the day. That’s when I noticed my usual self reflected in the glass, only I wasn’t there. Only my socks showed! Of course, I reached for the camera.

They say cameras don’t lie. Should I believe what I saw? Another photo aimed at all of me should show me the truth. Deceptively, I could see right through myself to the deck railing. Now, if only I can learn to harness this new power at will!!

Turning Back

Normally I have great determination to do what I set out to do. Something, more likely Someone, nudged me to turn back on the icy road. It looked about the same as yesterday, but testing the ice told me it was slicky and dangerous for walking. The ice had melted and refrozen so that the gravel was covered, giving no traction. When I walked back home, I noticed Holly’s car was warming up. In minutes she would be driving where I refused to walk. I laughed at the difficulty I had in taking the phone out of my pocket and getting it unlocked. Dictation was the only way to get my message on the screen, but I was able to warn her in time. She let me know when she got to work safely.

Instead of giving up the walk, I did three laps from my driveway to the icy road and three short laps in front of neighbor Julie’s house. Julie came out with dog Mickey. She listened to my warning, but she felt it was safe for her to walk in the leaves. Indeed she was safe! She is more nimble and sure-footed than I am. I would not have stepped down, well off the road into the leaves.

I went home when I thought I’d been out long enough. It was 18F -7.778C, and my nose felt like a snowman’s carrot. Perfect! I went inside about the same time I would have if I had walked to the stop sign. Hopefully I won’t see anyone soon in case I am tempted to boast of being sensible, for a change.

Spell checker objected to my word “slicky”. It suggested SLICKLY. Has anyone ever used slickly in a sentence in your hearing???