..Forty-Four Sunsets..

Chicago's optometry world

I fell asleep with my contacts in the other night. I know it's bad--I know that protein deposits will build up on my eyballs and I'll eventually go blind from it--but sometimes, you know, you fall asleep on top of your covers after several drinks and you wake up at 3:00am, fully clothed and groggy, and you really just lack the motivation to actually get up and change, brush your teeth, take out your contacts, etc. It happens.

There was a time in high school when I went for nearly a month without taking my contacts out, less from an alcoholic influence than pure apathy, and I nearly did lose my vision. Now I'm more careful about it, but there are occasions when I stumble to the bathroom come morning and realize that, oops, I can see clearly. Since there are no prophets or modern-day healers about me during the normal routine, it's usually just an indicator that I'm still not so good at functioning as a capable adult.

So the other night, I woke up--as I mentioned--at 3:00 in the morning and rubbed my dried-out eyes. The contact in my right eye promptly fell out, and I put it back in (or so I thought) then went to sleep again.

Woke up sans contact.

Didn't have any replacements.

It's been about three years since I've been to the eye doctor, which means that I've been using this years' supply of disposable contacts three times longer than I should have, so I figured that it was a good time to make an appointment.

My mom is here in town this week, and I told her about the early-morning contact debacle. That led to her and my dad offering to pay for a doctor's visit and new contacts for me, a grand gesture on their part that I very much appreciate due to my ever-tight finances. It did make me feel like a 17 year-old (thanks for the contacts, ma!) but I would gladly trade my pride for 20-20 vision.

Found a Pearle Vision relatively close to the house, so Mom and I walked down there yesterday. The doctor, a hugely pregnant blonde woman, was checking my eyes and halfway through the exam, whispered to me like she was asking a top-secret question, "do you have any insurance?"

I whispered back, "no."

She then told me (still in a whisper) that Pearle Vision was running this special on contacts, wherein you basically receive a free eye exam if you buy a certain brand of contacts; she said that I should just tell the receptionist that I had a coupon but left it at home.

I did, and it worked; I got my checkup free and am now seeing--more clearly than before, since I don't have to peer through murky year-old lenses--out of both eyes.

It's boring, I know. But I'm happy.