a new world

A NEW WORLD

sometime around when i was twelve years old i had a vision screening done at school that showed that i needed glasses
when i eventually got the glasses a new world opened up to me
when i looked up at the sky at night
well i could see the stars they were always talking about
well i could see that the moon wasnt huge like a big full harvest moon all the time
it was actually smaller
well the car lights at night werent this huge big old moon sized things coming down the road
they were actually small
well i could actually see the board at school to see what the teacher was writing up there
i was actually a good listener to pick up on what the teacher was writing on the board
i was always an a b student even though i couldnt see the board

even when i got my glasses i was bad about wearing my glasses
i didnt when i should have

i was a baseball pitcher from 10 years until i was 15 years old
there are so many funny stories i could tell about this one
i was the best pitcher in the league
i always made the all star team as the pitcher
the catcher couldnt give me signals cause i couldnt see his fingers so i always called my own pitches
he never knew what was coming
a fast ball a curve ball a knuckle ball a slider a screwball a change up pitch etc
there was many a time when i pitched the ball and the umpire wasnt in place
im surprised no one recognized it as a problem

my little league coach was an ex minor league pitcher who use to give me signals on what to pitch and where to pitch a hitter
the problem was i couldnt see his signals unless i walked off the mound over to the third base line so i could see his signals
once when i was 12 pitching in the all star game the all star catcher always called the pitches for his pitchers
he was probably the best player in the ten team league
he finally after i couldnt see his calls let me just pitch what i wanted

he was also the best hitter in the league and hit the most home runs
my goal even though i couldnt see him clearly was to not let him hit a home run on me
if he got a double or triple or a single i would be happy
i struck him out on more than one occasion probably the only time he struck out all year

also during that time if i wasnt pitching since you could only pitch so many innings i played first base
once during warm ups the third basemen threw me the ball that i couldnt see in the dim lights
kerplunk right in the face breaking my nose that required it being put back in place in the emergency room by my doctor former baseball coach

when i got my glasses finally i still wouldnt wear them
my pony league coach said you arent going to pitch unless you wear those glasses
so i wore them that season

it amazes me today that i was that good of a pitcher but couldnt see the batter or catcher or umpire or coach as they were blurs 30 feet away
i always batted 300 or more in the 6 years i played baseball
i always was the winningest pitcher in the league

i always was the quarterback from pee wee football starting at 10 years old until my freshman year when i was 15 years old
i never played football with my glasses on
i couldnt see the scoreboard to read the score or how much time was left and couldnt see the sidelines to get any signals
i am amazed that some of my coaches didnt step in to make sure i could see
when i threw a long pass i guess i used some sixth sense to complete the pass

i played high school basketball
i made all district or all county all four years of high school
during my ninth grade and my tenth grade i played basketball without glasses
i didnt have any
i couldnt see the scoreboard during the game to see the score or the time on the clock
even then i was one of the top two scorers on the team

my junior year my high school coach took me to the optometrist and got me glasses to wear
during classes and during games
it changed my life
ill alway remember him for what he did

im sure there were a lot of folks that talked about how i didnt say hi or acknowledge them away from school
i simply couldnt see them
i learned to recognize a persons walk and blur and voice

there was a period of time during my no glasses year what i call our poverty years we couldnt afford much much less glasses
i even remember having one pair of shoes that had a hole in them so i put cardboard in them

even when i got glasses as a teenager i was bad about wearing them

in our school after the 8th grade you had to buy your own books
in biology class i never had a book
i had to rely on what was said and written in class
on the board i couldnt see it so i had to just listen well
even then i still got an a in the class

why am i writing about this
well
tomorrow i have cataract surgery scheduled on my right eye
the vision on that eye has worsen to the stage where it needs fixed before it worsens
i sort of have been having flashbacks to my childhood when i close my left eye which is 20/20 with glasses
and try to see things with my right eye

my wife she didnt know or understand what i was doing with my left eye covered as i
looked at the moon
looked at the car lights
looked at the football scoreboard on tv

i was flashbacking
wondering if somehow my life would have been better someway if i could have been able to see normally all my life
or
did this all make me be successful in life
i dont know
im not sure

i told my wife she you know ive been wearing glasses now for over 55 years
glasses completely changed my life

im not sure i want to go without them as i will end up with normal vision

i may just have to put clear lenses in them and wear them even if i dont need them

i sat the other day with my glasses on the couch beside me
looking at them
remembering all what i wrote above

i felt sad but happy at the same time

maybe ill just wear sunglasses all the time to make me feel better

the organicgreen doctor