The Fact That I'm Wearing a H.S. Sweatshirt Didn't Pass Me By. I'm Old.

Yes, the sweatshirt is from my junior year when friends and I traveled to Canada with our honor society or key club or something. I bought the sweatshirt and still wear it to this day.

The glasses, however...they're cheaters. It's official. I'm cheating. I used to be nearsighted and had glasses for far away, but Lasik surgery took care of that. The last month, however, has been hell. I can't see anything near my face: mail, books, papers, menus. I finally broke down and bought a set of three glasses (cough cough, are cheater glasses really that cheap? I got mine for $3....3 pairs for 3 dollars).

I now can sit in my chair, see my iPad better, read my books, and geek out as the dork I've always been. Of course, I can't stand looking straight ahead with them on because then the world becomes blurry. I admitted today that I wanted to gauge my eyes out because they aren't what they used to be, but realized quickly that was a bit extreme. So, now I cheat, and I'm wondering how long I will go before I get one of those chains to wear around my neck. I'm channeling my inner-librarian and embracing the intellectual return of looking studious, when really I'm just trying to see.

$3. For this cheap bastard, that works just fine.

This morning, I'm covering a class for a colleague having surgery and we read a great short story about education, traditions, and transitioning to a literate life. Although I prepped, I'm also ready for the spontaneity of it all (returning to my subbing days in North Syracuse and Louisville).

I guess my eyes have chosen to join my knees and hips to tell me, "Dude, 5 more years to 50." I can't believe it. Actually, I can, especially since this week while listening to music with the twins I kept naming the grade I was in when a song came out and how the tunes influenced my friends and me. What was crazier is when they began naming dates with other music and where they were when they first listened. I told them it gets worse. Yesterday's youthful resistance and fanaticism quickly turns to the oldies stations of another time.

I just need to see - too important to my life. And if they are going to go, I'm ready to be Oedipus now. The squinting is too much to bare!