a whole new view of things is coming up

In about four weeks, daily living will get very interesting for me.

Between now and then we have one Rays game to go to (if not more), a mini-trip back to Palm Beach County to see sights we haven't seen in years, and a trip to Boston for the Fourth of July, the birthdays of two people close to our hearts, and a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

When we get back, it will get really interesting. I will take out the contact lenses I have worn since tenth grade -- well, not the exact same lenses, of course -- which replaced glasses I began wearing in the first grade. I may as well flush the contact lenses down the toilet because I don't plan to wear them ever again. Instead, I will allow my eyes at least three weeks to get accustomed to their normal (lousy) shape, and then I'll go in for cataract surgery.

Yep, that's the kind of surgery for old people, and for people like me who develop cataracts. I've been expecting this for eight or nine years, ever since my ophthalmologist told me I was beginning to develop cataracts, but I figured it would happen in five or ten more years -- you know, when I become an old guy. That good doctor has since passed on to his reward but another doctor in his office has told me that I am now a candidate for the procedure. (That's a code word that means the insurance will pay for it.)

My optometrist put it to me bluntly: One eye is 20-40, the other is 20-70, and he can't make lenses that will do any better for me. The cloudiness in my left eye? That's not caused by a dirty, oily, greasy contact lens, which was my theory. It's caused by a cataract which will do nothing with the passage of time but get worse.

The clincher was this: Since I know I'm going to have it done sooner or later AND I know I will be able to see better afterwards . . . why wait?

I had no good answer. Back to see my ophthalmologist again. Now we are serious. I had several questions, one of which was (and I don't want to insult you, doctor, but) can it be done over if something goes wrong, such as putting the wrong artificial lens in the wrong eye, or I'm seeing 20-100 when I come out of it? Answer: Yes, there are several possible ways to deal with such problems, one of which is replacing the bad lens. Another could be Lasik surgery to fine-tune the results.

So, I'm sold. I'd do it tomorrow if we could. Instead, I'm to wear eyeglasses to get around for a week, then see him again, then see him again two weeks after that. He does surgeries on Mondays so it could be the first or second Monday in August when he does the left eye, and another two weeks before the right eye. Meanwhile, I'm Mr. Magoo without the glasses and a guy looking through binoculars, turned the wrong way, with the specs on.

Assuming all goes well, I should be "normal" before Labor Day, whatever that means. My eyes haven't been normal since I was in kindergarten.