Sometimes small blessings come in unexpected forms. Sometimes they even look like more bad news.
This has been a difficultmonth. We learned that my husband's VA money won't kick in until AFTER he's enrolled, which means coming up with a grand to pay his tuition in the next 2 months. It'll be very tight until February. We'll have just enough. Christmas will be very lean and mean--no problem; we've been broke before, and those were some of our happiest Christmases.
Sometimes small blessings come in unexpected forms. Sometimes they even look like more bad news.
And then I broke my glasses.
They'd been lying on the sink while I took a shower, and Torachan, the 20 pound brown tabby, knocked them off. He is apparently the reincarnation of a lifeguard, and insists ion sitting on the floor in the bathroom whenever one of us takes a shower or a bath--I've considered getting him one of those Aussie lifeguard caps. With my vision blurred, I didn't see the glasses on the floor until I'd stepped on them. They were not capable of being fixed. And we just didn't have the money for new glasses, even though I knew I likely needed a new prescription, since mine was from 2000.
My mother-in-law told us to go to Sam's and handed us her debit card to pay for them. Yes, the same mother-in-law who banned Wicca while we live under her roof--if she wasn't this wonderfully kind and generous and loving, the ban wouldn't have hurt so much and I'd just have ignored it and worshiped behind closed doors.
So off to Sam's Club (yes, it's Wal-Mart, but none of the other places had a sale going and this was the cheapest price we could find). And the optician informed me I needed to see the doctor. So off I went to see the DO who informed me that I had a fully formed cataract in my left eye that should be removed ASAP, and that the one in my right could be removed a few weeks later.
And he gave me weird looks when I said "Thank God."
I have always known that I would get cataracts relatively young. My grandmother had them. So did Mom, and at about this age. I've been wearing glasses since age 8 or 9. I have trouble with contacts because I have dry eyes. I have contemplated Lasix, but Tricare doesn't cover it--though it shopuld cover cataract surgery. SO I was resigned to glasses.
The good news is, that while I will have to wear an eye patch for a bit (which means I will dress up like a pirate and practice saying "AAAARRRGGGHHH!" a lot in homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster) while the eye heals, then switch to the other eye, I will be able to see clearly without glasses for the first time in 48 years. I MIGHT need reading glasses, but I will be able to walk around without the world being fuzzy. I grant you, some things look better out of focus--O'Reilly ranting, the Evil Ex-Brother-in-Law, Rush Limbaugh, Darth Cheney, Dubya-- but I am willing to make that sacrifice.
For me, this minor disaster has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I will be able to SEE clearly. Sometimes things that seem like the straw that will break the camel's back turn out to be blessings in disguise. My appt. with the opthamologist is on the 28th. I'll know better then when my surgery will be scheduled. And the best news is that aside from a pretty small co-payment, Tricare will cover all of it.
And now I'll get back to Real Life, which in my case means making pate and a chocolate mousse pie. I've already baked 3 kinds of cookies!