Things I Learned This Week: Part 4

Not so dramatically as the post-operative patient who figures large in Annie Dillard's "Seeing" in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I learned to do something revolutionary today: I saw the world in 3-D.

Originally far-sighted by 12, then suddenly near-sighted in my mid-twenties (tested for diabetes -- negative), then fitted over the decades with multiple lenses due to annual vision change (causing one doctor to tell me I must have had a major concussion as a child), limited by cataracts, I have lived in a monocular world for as long as I can remember.

Now, after cataract surgery a month ago, I have new distance glasses as of today. Through them, I see objects in space and I see that space.

For over an hour this afternoon, I stood and strolled in my own backyard, entranced by tree and grass, weed and bird. Finally, I had to come inside, so drunk I was with the stereopticon-world reeling before me.

But, oh, how I look forward to tomorrow!