Now Playing: “I Can See Clearly Now,” Johnny Nash. (Too on the nose? 😂)

Ah, the yearly eye exam. Word Raccoon asked to come along. I knew she just wanted in on choosing frames, but figured she couldn’t do too much harm.

First of all, she had learned the day before at the gym that the gym owner’s wife worked at the eye center, so she was determined to make herself known.

She did.

The poor young woman seemed a bit overwhelmed at first. WR regaled her with stories about her gym antics. (We’ve known the gym owner for a few years now, but had been out of touch and didn’t realize he’d married until recently.)

Gradually she warmed up to WR, and soon we were talking about CrossFit and board games. (For the record, Word Raccoon does not enjoy board games but she can talk about them. Her brain and body won’t calm down long enough to play board games, but she is happy that others enjoy them.)

Then the doctor came in and mentioned my former optometrist who retired a couple of years ago.

We liked our former eye doctor. He told me he was retiring a couple of years ago. “We’ve been together a long time now, haven’t we?” he said. I first went to him when I was 19 or 20. He and his wife led a group at the university I was part of in the 90s, and the group even hosted a weekend camping trip. (Cabins, mercifully. WR and I do not camp in tents.)

He and I always talked about our travels. This new doctor (lovely man) told me my former doctor and his wife had just returned from Greece.

Word Raccoon looked pained at the sentimental turn, but even she nodded at the Greece detail.

But I’ve been to Greece! I want to know where they went! Athens, surely? Did they go to Crete, too? Fodele was gorgeous! I want to tell him about the lemon trees and the El Greco museum. 

Now we won’t know, unless I run into his wife at the café, which I do occasionally.

(Am I the only one who has a running mental list of all of the things you want to tell someone and all of the questions you’d like to ask, no matter how long it’s been?)

We also used to talk about running, back when I could run. (Guess who stressed her hip yesterday at the gym? Eh, ice and ibuprofen, and let’s hope I can jump back in the game. Too much too fast. My life’s story.)

He was a runner, too, and I think we were in a couple of the same races.

Often I was his first appointment of the day. (I like to get my appointments out of the way to free up bigger blocks of writing time.) I’d be waiting on the stoop at 7 a.m. for him to let me in.

The office doesn’t even open until 8 now.

My former doctor fitted me for my first contacts. He also told me, during the colored contact lens trend, that I didn’t need them. (Oh, the 90s.)

This new optometrist is a nice guy. We talked about music. Maybe that will be our thing.

Apparently my eyes have gotten better (it seems that happens sometimes?), so they’re actually struggling against my current prescription. Which might explain why I often don’t wear my glasses at home anymore.

Long story short, I need new glasses.

Here’s where WR comes in.

Even as we walked toward the frame display, she was muttering about what we’d consider:

This shape, color, no metal, stay within my insurance’s frame budget, fun…

The woman helping me told me to look around while she grabbed frames, too.

I paused to ask her what’s currently trending and made WR listen. She did, barely, then waved me away.

“I like what I like,” she said.

And then Word Raccoon said it:
“I want statement glasses.”

Oh. No.

This was why I didn’t want to bring her.

She tried on several pairs and couldn’t focus because she kept getting distracted by these pink wire-rimmed glasses.

“Try them on,” the clerk said.

They were adorable, so I did.

Nope.
They didn’t work at all.

Then WR picked up two pairs of Tommy Hilfiger frames (she wasn’t looking for any brand in particular) that were so fun.

One was a unique shape. One was a unique color. Both had wire frames.

“Can I get these frames in this color?” she asked.

I could!

I’m hoping they come in time for the author fair at my alma mater I was invited to attend. Fingers crossed!

After the appointment, I managed to get in some writing time before I needed to hop on a webinar. 

I wrote two poems, one based on a book I just finished reading, the second called “An Unfinished Job.” The first one I’m not sure is shareable. It questions everything. The way I do. Like, once things have changed in the world, why would you put them back the way they were if it doesn’t improve anything? (Neither is a political poem. I pinkie swear.)

I submitted a packet of poems yesterday too, but I didn’t follow directions because they didn’t have the portal set up properly so that I could. I guess I could’ve contacted them but I took a chance instead.

I probably take too many chances. But if you don’t take any, where does that leave you?  

My novel-in-progress also got a little love yesterday. 

I was awake and on the porch at 3 a.m. this morning writing. I was kinda glad it wasn’t light yet, because although I 100% support my neighbors’ right to erect their new fence, it cuts off part of my view and WR is pissed. 

Also, I can still see part of the window where their dog sits and watches me write, but now there’s a finial that reflects in the window and I keep thinking it’s my dog buddy, but no. 

So my new writing buddy is a finial? 😂

Word Raccoon says that’s fine with her. I think she was jealous of the dog anyway. 

Or maybe she just prefers her birb sightings.