The Eyes Don't Have it

The Blind Boys of LIAYF

Oh great, now my eyes are going to crap too.

In fact, I struggled again last night while trying to read Annabelle a bedtime story.

At this rate I'm sure I'll be blind by the end of the year.   I'll probably have to add the blind moniker to the beginning of my name. Something like Blind Willie Seattledad. Or Blind Lemon Seattledad.

But on the bright side, I might  finally take up that harmonica that's been staring longingly at me all these years.

Ok, so in reality I am not going to lose my eyesight, which is a good thing, but they are noticeably weaker with each passing month these days.

While most days I just think of myself as a dad period. In the back of my mind I know that the tell tale signs are there.  The signs that I'm on the back side in years, of where I should be for having an active 3 year old, and a lightning fast 9 year old.

I say active, but what I really mean is she NEVER. SLOWS. DOWN.

Achy knees? Check.  Creaky bones the morning after a long night with an overly drawn out bedtime for the kids, followed by dishes and laundry and lunches, and more dishes and more laundry? Check.

That extra little groan I have to make now while picking up one or both of my kids - because they are too tired to walk anymore (even though they just had 10 or more hours of sleep)? Check!

You know who's really too tired?  Me, that's who!

Just a couple of nights ago I was engrossed in reading Annabelle Frog and Toad (with my reading glasses), when the next thing I knew she was over playing with her doll house and apparently had been for some time!

I vaugely remembered her yelling at me a couple of times to keep reading, but that didn't help.  I was just out cold.

And now, the fact that I can't even read my kids a bedtime story anymore without holding the book at arm's length (unless, of course, I go off in search of my one pair of reading glasses) is another reminder that my body is in an all out race with my kid's childhood.

Sometimes I wonder which will be expire first?

This is sad. Poor me*.  I say so, because my eyes were the one superior thing I had left over my wife and kids. Something I could Lord over them as they got older. They all have glasses, but I've always had the perfect vision in the household.

Not anymore though.

Yep, these eyes are going to crap out on me soon.  Leaving me not only nearly blind, but tired and achy too.

Sounds like the perfect topic for a Blues song, doesn't it?  "I can't see my kids no more.  Da duh duh duh!"

*The truth of the matter is that I don't have to be able to read without optical support to see my kids smiles.  I could see those even if I really were blind, which thankfully I am not.  

Plus, I can hear their laughter perfectly even though they seem to think I can't hear very well.  Or they must think so, since they are always talking SO darn loud.

But that's a post for another day.  Eye promise.