I spent nearly an hour at the eye doctor’s yesterday. I thought it was going to be a simple matter of getting new glasses. It turned out that I’m in the early stages of cataracts. I won’t have many details until I see my regular doctor on the 10th.

One of my uncles was born with cataracts and went completely blind by age two. Mama owned a dog that would sometimes snap at Pete. Since he could not see, he could not easily handle the dog’s reactions. One day, when he was about three or four, the dog bit him. Pete grabbed the dog and held on very tight and bit the dog back … and kept biting. After that the dog never so much as growled at him.

The situation is a pisser, but there are more options for dealing with cataracts today than there were when my uncle went blind from them. Odds are that, while this is going to be a rocky ride, it will all turn out okay in the end.