I now realize I was living in my own fairy tale world.  Sometimes it takes a smack in the eye for us to wake up to reality. 

            I had conveniently dismissed my optometrists warning, that a gauzy shade was slowly descending over my eyes, or less dramatically, cataracts were beginning to blur my vision. It did not matter to me that when most people saw the color purple, I saw brown and what was actually green appeared to me to be gray.  Nor did it ever occur to me that when I had to ask a sales clerk if a certain item were blue or black that I had a problem.  I just thought it was a case of poor lighting.  However, when I started missing highway signs and directions, reality set in, or, forgive the pun, it opened my eyes.  It was time to do something rather than being a martyr to my stumbling ego. The increasingly strong glasses I had depended on for the past 30-some years were now not worth – ZILCH! Oh, what the heck!  Give it up!  I was getting weary of holding books and newspapers five inches from my nose so the print was legible, tired of squinting, tired of missing steps, tireed of falling over my dog and side- stepping any black surface, thinking it was a hole.  Depth perception was ka-put. Small wonder I hadn’t walked off a cliff or a stair landing.  It was time to accept reality. The cataracts had to go. 

            So I jumped fearfully, head on into the old-fogey stage of my life.  I winced; I crumbled; I silently screamed.  All that aside, I finally made the necessary appointment.  Well, here at this point I shall spare all of you the un-nerving, humbling details.  Anyhow it’s possible, if not probable, that a good many of you have been subjected to the same “bru-ha-ha. 

            The procedure was painless and relatively short.  In fact, I had a rather good time chatting and laughing until I was told to lie still.  I don’t know what they put in that anesthetic, but I sure would like the recipe.  Then, when it’s all over, you think that’s it, but no-oo-oo!  There are the darn eye patches and all those drops that are scheduled throughout the day for two weeks.  When you are done with one eye, you start all over with the second.  Finally, it all comes to an end. 

             It is unbelievable to me.  I don’t need glasses anymore.  My vision is nearly 20-20.  Reading, watching TV - absolutely no problem.  Once more I can drive at night and am no longer a threat to other drivers, and I no longer brake for shadows.  Oh, these modern day miracles, but - oh yes, there is a but! 

             Please, please understand, I speak soley for myself, and by now you have probably figured out that I exist in a realm of self-denial.  I should have never looked in that mirror!  But I did, and looking back at me, disbelief etched on her face, was a woman who had aged overnight.  It was a face carved out of corrugated cardboard, a human version of a shar-pei, those deeply wrinkled puppies who really are quite cute.  I was not cute!  I was stricken - horrified!  Of course, what I saw was what everyone else had been seeing for some time.  My life, as I knew it, was over.  Now I had to act my age.  I almost felt the youth and the energy slowly leave my body.  Reality had smacked me in the face. 

             Have I changed?  Nope!  Not a bit!  I must admit for awhile I wanted my cataracts back.  The wrinkles and the age spots would again be non-existant, at least to me.  But I came to my senses – at last.  What utter nonsense!  Age is an attitude, and my attitude is not ready for a cane and rocking chair and a shawl wrapped around my sagging shoulders. 

             So now I’m back doing my daily walk, and I have even upped the pace a bit.  I visited the SPCA and adopted another puppy as a playmate for my beloved poodle, Aggie Ann.  I am getting new cabinets for my ancient kitchen, and I am re-reading all of Dickens, playing with the idea that I just may, down the road a bit, spend Christmas in London - something I have always wanted to do. But most importantly, I am back to flirting, something that I am quite good at, and it's just about the best thing in the world to keep a person mentally young.  Wrinkles or not, life is great.  Every stage is a challenge to be conquered.  All we have to do is go with the flow baby!