The Eyes Don't Have It

       I have lost one of the simple joys in life, and I am not happy about it.  Last night I was sitting at the table eating dinner, and a cereal box was sitting on the table in front of me.  As I sat there eating, I thought back to something I did when I was a child, and something my kids do now.  When I was a kid I loved to read cereal boxes while I ate.

     I don't know what it is about those boxes.  Some people like to read a newspaper, but I always preferred the cereal box.  I wish I could give an award to the first person who decided it was a good idea to put trivia and games on the back of those boxes.  Whoever it was, they were a genius.  There are a lot of fun little games, and great trivia on the boxes.  As I thought about this, it brought back warm feelings of my youth.  I decided to read the box in front of me. That's when I realized I had a problem.

    I am not as young as I used to be.  I realized this the other day when I took my son out to let him kick his football off of his tee.  He was kicking away, then decided he wanted to see his Daddy kick one.  I had visions of kicking one over the tree in our yard, knowing my son would surely be impressed by the tremendous highth and length of my kick.  Instead, what happened is I barely kicked the ball farther than my six year old, and ended up with a slight limp. 

     Back to the subject at hand, as I sat there looking at the cereal box, I realized that I could not make out anything but the large print on the box.  I tried to focus my eyes, but had no luck.  I needed my glasses.  I have several pairs of reading glasses, but rarely wear them.  There is something about the fact that I really need them that I just don't like.  I guess it is the fact that wearing them amounts to admitting I am growing older, and my body doesn't work as well as I used to.

     The cereal box was the last straw.  What was always a sweet innocent joy is now out of reach for me without my glasses.  Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair.