Need to get glasses

2/26/08 Tuesday
I broke my glasses a few days ago so got an appointment at the VA. They gave me an examination and a set of glasses maybe three years ago. I’m legally blind without them. Can’t tell my fingernails from my fingers at arms length. Fortunately I had bought a nicer pair of glasses when the inheritance came in. Those are the ones that broke but I have the ones from the VA as backups. Unfortunately I can’t see as well out of them so my prescription has changed over the years. The glasses that come from the VA aren’t pretty but will work. We just don’t have the money for that, especially because Cherie needs new glasses too. She checked out prices on that and bifocals cost a ton of money by our standards. She may go to contacts and use reading glasses. That will be cheaper. I was supposed to get bifocals back then but decided not to. I just wasn’t keen on having to get used to them having never had bifocals. I’ll probably get them this time. So that appointment is at 1:00. I have to see the regular doctor who then schedules the eye appointment.

It’s a chilly morning. Got a fire going last night as the cold front that is responsible for our fifty mile per hour wind gusts rolled through. Got up at five thirty this morning to fire up another one. There is not much wind out so I should get lots done. I forgot to roll up a window in the truck yesterday so it was full of sand. One of the first things I need to do is unload the stuff I got from the landfill off the truck. Then I’ll get back to work on the seed shack now that I have the materials I need. I just realized that I need to run electrical wiring in there before I put up the plywood. Glad I thought of it.

The skin on my hands has been dry and cracking for a month or more. Sometimes it cracks so deep it bleeds. I keep putting on lotion and when it bleeds antibiotic cream. It doesn’t seem to do a lot of good.
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I would have never thought that going to the VA hospital to see about getting glasses would be a moving experience. We took the first exit off the interstate going into Big Spring. That’s right were the Webb Air Force Base I was born on used to be. It is now the city airport and I think a federal prison. Just as we headed into town a police car with it’s lights flashing pulled across the road blocking traffic. We could see a line of police cars, all with their lights flashing. “What’s going on?” Cherie asked. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s a wreck. No wait! Is that a hearse? I think it’s a funeral” I replied. We watched the procession turn into the airport. I wondered if there was a graveyard back there or what. It had us puzzled for sure. When the procession went in we proceeded to the hospital.

Pulling in there were American flags on flagpoles all over. They lined the drive and went around the parking lots. Something was up but we weren’t connecting any of the dots so were clueless and curious. I went in and did the normal weight, blood pressure, why are you here? Are there any problems? intake routine. We saw the doctor who then scheduled my appointment for the optometrist. I went to the travel desk to make sure I got my travel pay for when we went to Albuquerque. I had and the lady said we would be just in time for the parade. “Parade?” I said questioningly. Now we learn what’s going on.

The body of a local young man who had been killed in Iraq had arrived by air. He was a husband with two children if I remember right. Just as we walked out we saw the procession starting. There were eight or ten police cars leading the way. Then came the hearse. It was followed by a color guard of Harleys flying flags. After them were a long line of cars and at the end more police cars and some fire trucks that had blocked off the roads. Many people lined the street with hand held flags seen everywhere showing their respects, honoring this young man. We watched from atop the steps. I wiped tears from my eyes as I thought of the sacrifice made and pain the mother must be enduring.