Running out of time

There was a story on 60 Minutes about asteroids and other celestial bodies crashing into Earth and disrupting life – either temporarily or permanently. There was more to it than that, but that’s what I took away from it.  If the timing is just right (or terribly wrong) a half-mile wide rock could smash into Earth and give us all a bad day.

I normally don’t sit down to watch 60 minutes, but it was running about 30 minutes late because of the televised Sunday football games. My family likes to watch The Amazing Race, and it normally starts at 7:00 here on Sunday night, but once in a while it starts later because of a shift in the TV schedule. (I think they call that being pre-empted in TV jargon).

Life is not so easily pre-empted. I had a manager once, known only to me as, “Mr. Shoes.”  He believed that if you weren't fifteen minutes early to an appointment you were late. More than once I had to observe his size 17 shoes pacing the floor as he waited for me to get ready to see him.

I normally like to be right on time or a couple minutes early. Any more than that and I will stay in my truck and read.  I keep three to four books and a pair of reading glasses with me for just such an occasion. Being almost blind without the aid of corrective lenses, I will have either my contacts in or glasses on.  If I am wearing my contacts I will need reading glasses, but if I have my glasses on all is clear.

But lately, my regular glasses have been giving me a headache. For the last year or two (I’m a slow learner) I get a headache on the weekends when I don’t wear my contacts and rely solely on my glasses. I operated on the theory that I would give my eyes a break from the contacts on weekends – kind of a mini-vacation for my eyes.  But it didn't work; after a weekend of living with a man with a headache my wife needed a vacation.

So I went to the eye doctor. I had almost forgotten about my appointment and instead of being early I was...about twelve minutes late. I rushed in to the clinic with a hurried, harried and apologetic approach but was told I would have to reschedule because I was late. The receptionist handed me a bunch of papers saying, “we need these completed before we can see you”, which I felt it unnecessary to explain that since I had been there, oh about twenty times before, they should have everything they need.

“We can reschedule you now,” she said. But I couldn’t as I was only seeing red. I left and had half a mind to go someone else, but there was the matter of insurance and out-of –pocket expense and so on and so forth.

So on my following appointment I was a few minutes early with all my paper work completed, but I still had to wait for fifteen minutes until I was admitted into the next room.  As I impatiently tapped by size 10 ½’s on the floor I guessed I was being punished for my previous tardiness. 

During the exam the doctor pointed a light into my eyes that was so bright he must have got it from a lighthouse surplus store. While I was being tortured I told him everything – about not eating enough carrots, rubbing my eyes too hard and the headaches.

He thinks that because of my slight astigmatism my eyes are having a tough time adjusting between the contacts and my glasses on the weekends. He suggested I order new glasses to correct the problem. Not what I had in mind, but neither is it the end of the world.