So there I am, riding an elevator in a Chicago hotel on my 56th birthday. Just me and a couple of other passengers who are together and just checking in.
Now I've said it before and I'll say it again, my eyesight has been the biggest source of frustration and disappointment as I've aged. I hit forty and suddenly my house started to sprout reading glasses: Kitchen, den, office, bedroom-- everywhere you went there was a pair of readers. Then there started to be readers that weren't good enough anymore-- I needed greater magnification. So then I had good readers and bad readers. Finally, about 10 years ago, I decided to just take the plunge and get a pair of glasses I could just leave on, readers on the bottom, normal on the top. Turns out, that's code for bi-focals.
So, there I was on that elevator, bundled up from the Chicago cold, getting on an elevator with my glasses deep in my pocket. No problem. I actually considered the consequences but figured what the heck. Rather than just ask the nice lady to push seven for me I'd do it myself. I couldn't really make out the numbers on the polished old brass buttons but I could remember the position of the 7.
And so, when the door opened for the button I had pushed-- on 10-- I calmly exited the elevator, waited for the doors to close, and dug out my glasses. And when the elevator returned I pushed the 7 and was back to my room in no time. Feeling older, not wiser.
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