It wasn't turning 40. I embraced turning 40 and actually enjoyed it! I'm told over and over again that I don't look my age, so turning 40 didn't affect me at all.
It wasn't my son starting high school. Contrary to what I read from my other mom friends, I don't mind my children getting older. I have an 11 year old and a 14 year old, and they are so much fun! Really!! I love watching them grow and mature. I love the fact that they don't need me as much. I love seeing them become more independent. Sure they still make mistakes and anger me on occasion, but who doesn't? Nobody is perfect. So that doesn't make me feel old.
It wasn't finding my first gray hair. Oh, don't get me wrong. I yanked that sucker out the moment I saw it shimmering among the normal brown strands. And I'm still yanking them out today! No gray hair is safe on my head. I should really just get some highlights in my hair and be done with it, but yanking them out gives me some control over this sign of aging. I like control.
But this thing that made me feel old, I have zero control over. Can you guess what happened that screamed out "YOU'RE OLD"?
Bifocals!
Bifocals are something that your grandmother wears. Bifocals are needed because your eyes have presbyopia which literally means "old eye"! How charming. Bifocals are for old eyes. I now wear bifocals. I have old eyes. I. AM. OLD.
Over the past year, I have seen the signs. I would get a headache while reading. I started pulling books and papers away from me when pulling them closer didn't bring them into focus. Small print was completely blurry. If I were in a dimly lit restaurant, I wouldn't be able to read the menu. For this aging issue, I couldn't just yank out the annoying silvery strand. I needed new glasses.
Now, when I heard that new glasses were a necessity, my immediate thought was "then I'm getting new frames, too!" Shopping! That's a prefect way to cheer a woman up! So, I picked out new frames, and in two weeks I'll have my new glasses.
I decided to get multi-focal contacts as well. They are a bulls eye design in which I have to look through the close up vision to also see far away. It gave me tremendous vertigo in the beginning. I felt like I had one too many glasses of wine without all the fun! Definitely took some getting used to, but the good part was my vision had improved. When we went out to dinner the first weekend of wearing my new contacts, I could SEE the menu. Success!
Yesterday I picked up my pretty new glasses. Fortunately these are not your grandmother's bifocals. The design is sleek, and the line is NOT there! Progressive lenses are awesome, people. Just like coloring your stubborn gray hair, nobody knows you are wearing bifocals. It's the perfect disguise.
Unless, of course, you see the person tilting their head to walk down the stairs. Oy! Still getting used to walking down stairs. I guess it's just one more learning curve in the game of life.
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