Drying Out

New items purchased often have small packets of silica gel inside them marked desiccating gel, along with the words "Do Not Eat."  These days I think if I just stand near a new item, I could probably dry it out very nicely.

As we age, we oxidize, and moisture flows from us in all directions.  At this point I should have a small cloud of evaporation following me around.  I swim in lotion, to try (though I am currently failing) to keep my skin from bleeding from the cold weather cracks.  The latest victim of my shriveling humidity; my eyes.

Some of you have seen the photos of my new glasses (which I no longer own). I went to the optometrist to ask her why I do not see sharply and am totally aware of the orbit of my eye. She gave me new prescription for glasses which I had filled;  then I could not see anything farther than five feet away.  Frustrated I went to see the ophthalmologist who cares for my accident prone men (one who had a horrible little group of amoebas take up residency in his eyes and one who had a tennis ball shatter the contact lens in his eye).  This is the doc who said I have dry eyes; I just thought I was middle aged and had become hard-hearted.

He tested my eyes for moisture levels by placing tiny little pieces of watercolor paper inside my lower eyelid, sticking straight up like paper columns.   I waited five minutes in the dark for the paper to absorb my irritation tears;  a weird test, especially for an artist.  One of the strips eventually dropped onto my cheek, the other remained at attention; that eye is the really dry one.  I wanted to try to paint  a teeny little painting in my tears, but they tossed the strips.

Now I use eye drops.

Does this mean I will no longer cry at movies?  I hope so, it has always been so embarrassing.