I didn't realize how much I relied on my reading glasses (the cheap over the counter magnifying kind 2.00+) until I lost every pair and tried to spend the last two weeks of May reading without them. Here is what it was like:
1. This loss was beyond frustrating made more frustrating by the fact that I could never seem to remember to buy a replacement pair.
2. When I did find a pair much to my excitement, I realized that the lens' had been scratched by either my children or by beach sand in my purse where yes, I let my glasses beat around without a case to protect them.
3. I found myself resorting to short stories instead of digging into novels because I'd have to stop after every 5-10 pages and let my eyes rest. So, where I'd started reading Look Homeward Angel before I lost my glasses, I couldn't return to the novel until now. Instead, I read a few short stories from Claire Vaye Watkins collection Battleborn and I also read a few of Terry Southern's stories from his collection, Red Dirt Marijuana.
4. The only novel I did tackle was James Salter's A Sport and a Pastime which, because of the "steamy" subject matter, I read despite my weary eyes.
All of this said, I was surprised to see how my lack of reading glasses affected my reading choices. But, I got my cateyes back and I'm now elbow deep into Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and I have to say, it feels good to have the novel back within my grasp.
