The Right Prescription

There are some good things about getting older, such as maybe getting a little more mature and a little bit wiser. Okay, so that’s about it as far as the good things. The bad things on the other hand can be a long list, including gray hair, wrinkles, hearing problems and declining vision. In my case, my vision has been slowly declining for about a year and it’s been really bugging me. It’s not so bad that I need glasses all the time, but as a highly competitive baseball player, I rely on my vision in order to perform at the highest level. Plus, it can really hurt if you don’t pick up that baseball hurtling 70 miles an hour at your head!

So, I decided to go see an eye doctor. I won’t give you her name but let me just say it didn’t go well at all. A vision test showed me at 20/25 in one eye and 20/30 in the other, which is not too bad, but definitely enough to need prescription sunglasses when playing sports. At her advice I ordered a pair of really nice Oakley prescription sunglasses, which of course took 3 weeks to come in. After they came in and I tried them out, they didn’t help my vision at all. So I took them back, had my vision re-checked, and the eye doctor said, “Whoops, we made a mistake, so we will remake the glasses.” After 3 more weeks a second pair came in and they were even worse than the first pair! When I went back for the third time, I was really upset and let the doctor’s office know it. It isn’t like me to complain but after 6 weeks, and with baseball season already started, I was really frustrated. However, I guess the eye doctor was even more frustrated with me… because she sent me off to see a different doctor in a different office in a different city.

I’m still waiting for my third pair of prescription sunglasses to come in and feeling more frustrated and upset than ever. But then something caught my eye… my Uncle Dick. He is in his 80’s and his vision has become really poor, forcing him to use a cane to feel his way around, which I had never seen him use before. The doctors cannot fix his vision, so he has accepted his situation and is doing the best he can. He was smiling and joking the day I saw him and never once complained about his situation.

And that got me thinking… Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own problems, wants, needs and desires, that I forget how truly blessed I really am. I am 62 years young, still able to play hard ball baseball with guys half my age, and simply need to find the right sunglasses. Maybe the prescription I need to have filled is the one that enables me to see the “Big Picture”!

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, 

the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me.

~ Anonymous