Eyes

I realize my London diary is incomplete yet. This is a result of a great many factors, some of which are everyday, others which are more like heavy burdens or distractions causing me an inability to focus on a decent description of the remainder of our trip. Nevertheless, I will finish the travel diary. And I will even add things to it that I've left out. I intend to do so this weekend. I hope.*But tonight, while Craig watches TiVoed Lost and before we watch TiVoed American Idol Season 6 (guilty, guilty pleasure), I wanted to spend some time posting about recent activity in and of my New York life before I lose complete track of the fact that I live, thrive, work and exist here beyond just a fantastic trip to England and the memory thereof. Our week has been long, longer than even usual. Our first Nor'Easter blew through the boroughs this week, although Craig finds it dubious that they'd even term it that because whatever storm shot through here hardly deserved Nor'Easter status. There was some snow, and some ice and slush and there were definitely freezing freezing freezing temperatures. I refuse to complain about work here so I will isolate my complaints to the fact that our commute is hugely unsatisfactory. We walk 10 minutes to the subway in Manhattan, and that's fine, completely acceptable and to par with many New Yorkers. But when we arrive to work, which is situated in a highly undesirable neighborhood, which I will leave unnamed, we have yet another 10 to 12 minute walk to our office. So much for giving up cars, right? But whatever, it's all part of the experience. Anyway, the past couple of weeks since we returned have been not noteworthy. No, they've been unsettling. We moved to a new office space (all that I will say on that) and with our extended commute, our days seem even longer still. Coming down from the high of London has kind of caused us both grounding reminders that life isn't just one long vacation, but dammit that it isn't! And days in general have been mundane. So life lesson learned? Even winters in New York can feel heavy, desolate, burdensome and unending.*So to get to today. It's been no shock or news to me that for quite some time, my eyes have been straining to see. Back in Atlanta I had different insurance with a different company and I went to a vision care provider on said insurance. To prevent any rehashing or reliving of the experience, I will just say the whole thing sucked. They had every excuse in the book as to why they couldn't service my eyes properly. My conclusion? They just sucked, period. But after waiting months for my glasses (who does that??), I finally accepted whatever pair of lenses they wound up leaving in the frames I had paid an unreasonable price to own. I knew the prescription was incorrect, even then. But as a lifelong glasses wearer, and a girl now well into adulthood where I've had to front the money for my eyes myself, I will say eyesight doesn't come cheap. If it isn't the frames, it's the lenses, and if not that, it's just the fact that the whole eyeball industry knows that the public will pay to see and therefore, they rob us blind, pardoning the pun. Today I left work at 3.30 to travel to Grand Central Terminal where an expensive eye doctor was just counting the bills in her wallet while she waited for me to breeze through those glass doors. And I did breeze through the doors, and I did seem confused as I stood in the tiny glass enclosed retail space eyeballing, so to speak, their collection of Prada frames. Side note: I did not know of Prada until I moved to New York City. The slender Asian woman likely younger than me and far more sophisticated led me to the optometry area, where she proceeded to, with the help of fancy machines, quickly analyze the fact that my vision and my current glasses prescription aren't even a close match. In fact, she didn't hold back. She said, "You can't see out of your left eye." Then she looked down at the formula of my prescription she had written down on a notepad, looked back up at me and said, "Don't you get headaches?" Lady, am I paying you to ostracize me for the fact that I can't afford eyecare?? I was probably red, all shades. Embarrassed to be close to legally blind, embarrassed that as a salaried adult I have not been able to afford to keep up with the changing and worsening of my sight, I walked, tail between my legs, out to the L-shaped glass counter where they keep their plastic Prada (et al.) frames. And some sales guy convinced me to purchase a pair of light-colored tortoise-shell frames with pink undertones that won't match one item of my bland gray or black clothing, but hey, at least I get my hands on them Tuesday. If all goes well at the "We've Never Seen Such a Strong Prescription" lab here in New York. I'm trying to remember that I do have minimal amounts of my eyesight left, and be grateful for at least that. At least for that.*Today is my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday, Mom! She's so blissfully young, for a mom of a girl my age. We sent her orchids. And I have her eyes.***Happy Birthday Mom.