Went to see my optometrist last week and she mentioned that I have very early stage cataracts. Huh. My mother had cataracts that required surgery, so this news didn’t come as a complete surprise but it’s the first time I’d ever had a problem with my eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said. “They’re just starting. Besides, sooner or later everyone gets cataracts.”
Mm hm. Cold comfort.
Then she asked me if I wanted to get new lenses this year.
“Don’t think so,” I replied. “Has my vision changed that much?”
“No,” she said, “just a little in your left eye, and that’s going the other way.”
“‘Going the other way'” meaning…?”
“Well, your distance vision in your left eye has improved.”
“It has?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, how the heck did that happen?”
She shrugged slightly and made a noise that sounded like how you’d say “I don’t know” with a mouthful of toothpaste – no words, inflection only.
“Your vision with correction is 20/20. Without your glasses it’s about 20/50. And your near vision is completely backwards.”
“‘Completely backwards.’ I never get enough of people telling me that.”
“No, no, I mean at your age you should need reading glasses. Your near vision is like that of a teenager.”
“Uh-huh. So, let me get this straight. I should need glasses for close work, but I don’t.”
“Right.”
“And I have incipient cataracts, but my distance vision is improving.”
“In your left eye.”
“In my left eye.”
“Right again.”
I took a second to let that sink in.
“I’m a unique creature, aren’t I?” I smiled. She smiled back.
Can’t wait for next year’s appointment. 
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