Peter Hentges

One of the side effects of my first pair of bifocal transition lenses and the general business lockdown is that reading texts has become a significant challenge for me. I've been reading less as I get older in general, but for the last several months it has become quite troublesome. With my current prescription, the distances at which I need to hold reading materials are either far enough away that the type is difficult to make out, or close enough that I don't need my glasses at all (which means a few inches in front of my face), both of which are uncomfortable for any length of time. I believe that things have loosened up sufficiently now that I can schedule an eye exam and work on getting new lenses. I should probably get new frames as well since my current ones have suffered a few traumas and tend to slide off my face if I get at all sweaty (which happens more frequently when wearing a mask).

So I've been missing reading things. I was a voracious reader as a child and kept reading quite a bit through my 20s and 30s. I slowed down a bit in my 40s as my eyes got worse, but still enjoyed a day with a novel. Now, I can't sit and hold a book or e-reader comfortably enough to get through one. I've seen a few folks doing re-reads of various authors during the pandemic restrictions and I have the lovely illustrated volume of Earthsea stories that was released a few years back that I would like to get through. Motivation for getting that eye appointment, I suppose.