Eyeglasses and an e-reader

I will start off by saying that, should the situation arise, it’s impossible for anyone to live with only three objects. We need way more than that to minimally subsist, specially in our modern world. So, I will not be taking this prompt literally but will list objects that metaphorically I couldn’t live without. Those would be my eyeglasses, my e-reader, and my computer.

Eyeglasses

I put on my glasses first thing in the morning. They are the last object I take off before going to bed. You see, I have a 20/20 vision, I never had any issues seeing things from afar. And I never had issues also with my near vision… until I turned 40 years old. I consulted my ophthalmologist then. I was starting to develop a condition known as presbyopia. As we age, it gets harder for our eyes to focus on nearby objects. This is especially true when there’s a dim light.

This condition is easily corrected with a pair of glasses. But she recommended that I wait as long as I could before getting progressive lenses. She warned me that this was a one way path. After starting to use them, I would be unable to come back. As expected, she was absolutely right. When I turned 45, around the same time my midlife crisis started, I gave up and ordered the glasses.

I must say that my life quality and general well-being were drastically improved by using glasses. Small pleasures like reading at night, or simply taking a quick look at my wristwatch, came back instantly. For example, I wasn’t dependent anymore on other people reading the fine print on the food labels for me. My partner no longer had to recite aloud the menu items at badly lit restaurants during romantic dinners. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing. I got my independence back, and nowadays I can’t spend another day without using them.

E-reader

This is a no-brainer. I love reading, I love books, and I love collecting them. Who knows me well, knows that I love making any excuse to get inside a bookstore or a library. I can spend hours browsing and admiring all the books stored on the shelves. And I will buy many more books than I am capable of reading. Oh, well, that’s my weakness.

This was becoming a problem before the advent of the e-reader. I used to spend hours at second-hand bookstores looking for hard to find books. Another reason was that they were more affordable there. Then I would buy and collect them to my heart’s desire. I got all of Agatha Christie’s books, apart from philosophy, fiction, and mystery collections. Saying that my personal library was getting full is an understatement. Now, they all fit inside my e-reader. Many of them are already in the Public Domain, so no more costs involved. There are many giveaways and sales. I can get the books I want for free or with a big discount.

Computer

I have done another post about my computer, so I will not spend too much time on it here. It suffices to say that I use it to code. I also use it to keep my aforementioned eBooks collection. Additionally, I use it to write this very blog. I literally don’t pass a day without using it. Together with my eyeglasses, and my e-reader, my computer completes the objects that are vital to me.