Bows and flows of angel hair...

I've suffered from migraines for most of my life. Rather than inheriting my mother's green eyes and wavy hair, I was blessed with her tendency to have blinding headaches several times a month. (My flat hair and boring blue eyes thank you, universe.)


Unfortunately, my headaches have progressed and developed some fun little nuances that my mother’s lacked. Occasionally I go blind in both eyes, sometimes just the left, and every now and then (read: every twenty minutes or so on a good day) my left eye completely loses focus like a broken camera lens.

Today I went to an ophthalmologist, as per my neurologist’s instructions, to try and decipher if my vision problems were something that I could fix or at least regulate. The good doctor informed me that, as best he could tell, these symptoms were exciting new components of my migraines just as my neurologist told me last week. Also, I can expect that they will last for the rest of my life, and may eventually result in blindness. Yay! I haven’t told anyone about the later part of my diagnosis. I’m merely telling folks that I’ll be needing glasses (sounds cheerier, and makes me weep a little less). Rather than dwell on this, the unpleasant forecast for my future…. I prefer to wax nostalgic about the things I love seeing, things I may one day miss.

-Jonathan Papelbon dancing on the mound after the Red Sox win a big game

-The Coburg cow on Hwy 17

-Downtown Charleston at Christmas

-Bill Clinton (god knows I love that man…)

-Intricate children’s shoes on display in department stores (why do infants need steel toed boots or bedazzled high heels?)

-Jesus clouds (the term my mother and I use for really ornate skies that look like Christ would come walking out of them in a 17th century painting)

-Bubbles

-The way books properly arranged on a shelf look like a piece of art

-Words. I literally love the curve of letters, in any order, and the way that they stretch across a page

-My grandmother’s handwriting. She’s been gone for almost ten years now, but I still keep a book of her cancelled checks. Her penmanship made paying the light bill look regal.

-Stereotypical Southern photography (barns, chickens, debutantes, fields, the absolutely beautiful ugliness of poverty captured in black and white)

-Matching sets of oil and vinegar at restaurants that instantly class up a table

-Kudzu

…….

Obviously there are millions of other sights that I adore, but for today those are the ones that make me smile.