TILT # 45 - Grateful for the ordinary

So today's medical appointment was with an ophthalmologist. I take medication for an autoimmune condition. The downside of the medication is that it can cause blindness. You can bet I thought long and hard about whether or not to even start on the medication. To keep a careful eye on my eyesight, I have an annual eye check-up. Last year, we established my baseline. Today, I went in to see if my meds have caused any deterioration in my sight.

Long story short, my sight remains good, there has been no degradation noticed. One of the tests I took had me looking into a machine at a red star made of broken lines. For a moment, I felt like Luke Skywalker in his X-wing fighter using his targeting software in his attack run of the Death Star in the first Star Wars movie, Episode IV, A New Hope (see clip here: https://youtu.be/AA_D__HMuFw ) Forgive me. I'm a Star Wars nerd and I digress. It's my blog and I can digress if I want to. LOL!

Anyway, one of the things they do at the end of this annual check-up is put something in my eyes that renders me unable to drive myself home. I take the public bus home. My sight is blurry for a few hours and in fact, in the sun, I can hardly see a thing as if the landscape is one huge overexposed photograph.

So, for a few hours today, I felt the vulnerability of walking and doing things without clear sight. Crossing the road to get to the bus terminal from the clinic was a slower exercise than normal as I squinted and took my time to ensure it was safe to cross. Coming home on the bus, the view of places familiar to me was blurry. Putzing around my home getting lunch ready for the family was also in slow motion. I was not productive on my laptop with school work as I could not read the screen.

I take too much for granted the mundane and ordinary gifts of life. That I can breathe without a machine to help me, or walk without a sight dog to guide me is truly more valuable than I know. I am glad for this reminder to be grateful today. May I continue to make thanksgiving a part of my life.

Photo by Marius Spita on Pixabay