“Ready to ride?” 

“Yes,” I told Tom, “before the walkers, joggers and mutt walkers get out and start blocking the roads. I don’t know why they won’t get out of the way when they see me coming.” 

Tom laughs and says, “You’re the one who’s supposed to go around them.” 

“Uh-uh. I’m queen of these roads.” 

“You’re not old enough to be here,” he jokes, referring to those who think I’m some kind of caretaker. “You gotta respect your elders.” 

LOL! 

No one was out, but it sure was windy at times. I still can’t believe, despite the annoying landscaping sounds, what a beautiful park we live in as well as how much is now in our 401K, after we were so poor for so long. It has a way of making one feel rich. Even the glasses I’m getting look “rich.” 

So yeah, I will discuss our eye exams now. Our new Walmart eye doc, Kristy G, is a very nice young American lady of Asian descent (I think). While she was finishing up with what was probably her first patient of the day, her assistant did the preliminary testing, including that dreaded air puffer. 

The doctor took us both in and I sat in a chair while she examined Tom first, who has a cataract growing in one eye. Where he’s squeamish about dentists, unlike me, he’s brave when it comes to eyes, so if he ever needed surgery, he wouldn’t be afraid. Me… I’d be scared shitless. 

Then she dilated his eyes with drops and we swapped seats. She told me my nerves looked healthy and didn’t say much through the exam other than to look up, down, left, right, etc. Then… “I do notice a small eye nevus in the left eye,” and I’m thinking, please don’t tell me I’m going to find out I have something worse than OH. But it’s just a benign mole like we sometimes have on our skin. Tom vaguely remembers our old doc in Auburn referring to it as a freckle. 

After she dilated my eyes (I hate that) I casually asked if I had ocular hypertension and she said, “Actually, you are borderline.” 

Whew! So glad it’s not up and that she too, didn’t refer me to a specialist. I wasn’t surprised. I would’ve had bad dreams the night before and then I’d have been jumping with bad vibes. The fact that she didn’t want to do all those tests that Hanson did or refer me to a specialist tells me it’s probably down from the last time I was examined a couple of years ago. She’ll still want to monitor the nevus. She wants to see me regularly because ocular hypertension can lead to glaucoma. 

My long-distance vision has changed more than my close-up vision and has actually improved, much to my surprise. My left eye is slightly better, too. I guess in 20 years I may not need glasses to see distance. That would be great, though I’d rather not need them for reading and using the computer. 

I’ve wanted frameless glasses so my glasses are less obvious and not the first thing you see when you look at me, so I decided to just go all out and get a pair of gorgeous designer frames with mauve metal and some shiny gems on the sides. Will take pictures when I get them, along with my old very bold, and heavy-framed purple Candies I’m wearing now for comparison. I’d still prefer perfect vision and not need glasses, but these are definitely going to be the nicest-looking pair I’ve had so far. 

Both our glasses cost over $500, but mine is most of the cost, of course, LOL. I got transitioning HI non-glare progressive lenses. I hated the cheap mail-order progressives I once got, but the lady who took care of our frame-picking said she has those and loves them. She said it might take me a month to get used to them and to not feel like the room is “moving,” but that I should get used to them. At over $300, I better get used to them! I wanted to get the rounded bifocals my Candies have, but because the HI plastic is so thin, it would shatter them. 

Two people complimented my rainbow dress, including a girl of about 10. I may usually act my age, but I never dress it, LOL, and you know you’re not dressing your age when even the kids compliment you. 

I don’t remember much in the way of last night’s dreams. Something about buying a bright yellow snake and running into Simone and wishing I could take her home. I miss that little shit at times, as wild as she was. 

Oh wow, Andy just told me Shelley’s bringing Charlotte to visit Judy in the hospital. I was surprised because I had no idea they were friends again, and I also didn’t know Charlotte was in any condition to be visiting people. Last I knew she had the beginning of Alzheimer’s and was in a nursing home where I thought she’d spend the rest of her life. 

I loved Charlotte, and I told Andy she could tell her this, too. She was one of the few friends of my mother’s that weren’t phony and that treated me with respect. To the best of my knowledge, she wasn’t kind to my face one minute, then badmouthing me behind my back the next. I would love to hear from her, but when I never got a reply to the letter I sent a few years ago or online, I figured she just wasn’t up to communicating and left it at that. 

So why am I still getting messages from My Health? This time it was to tell me I was due for my TSH test. So I took this as an opportunity to contact my lovely ex-doc and tell her that I’m with Mercy now, so I don’t know why I’m still getting reminders and all that. Also, could she please email me when she can? Nothing’s wrong and it’s not urgent, I told her. Just some information I didn’t want to disclose there. I would still love to know if she ever got my Facebook messages and friend request, but my guess is I’ll never hear from her. At least not by email.