Today while visiting the eye doctor for a checkup, I got one of the proverbial signs of aging. I need bifocals.

It wasn’t exactly a big surprise to me. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been looking underneath my glasses to read small print. When the eye doctor first entered the exam room, she asked me if I had any problems or concerns. I told her that I wasn’t having any problems, but that she was probably going to tell me that I should get bifocals. She then asked, “Are you okay with that?”

I gave her a confused look and replied “Sure, if that’s what I need to see well, that’s what I should have.”

She then proceeded to tell me that a few of her patients needing bifocals refuse to get them. Really? How is actually having bifocals different from knowing that you need them? Wouldn’t you feel younger if you could see the small print without holding the paper at arm’s length?

When I was looking into the machine with all those lenses and the doctor demonstrated how small print would look with and without bifocals, I was even more confused. Why would they refuse to get bifocals? Don’t these people ever read? Is it vanity? Although with the progressive lenses, even that tell-tale line isn’t an issue.

Milestone birthdays (turning 30 or 40) have never bothered me. It’s just a number. If the Earth would move around the sun a little faster I could be 65 years old now. Seeing some gray hairs on my head have never bothered me. Okay, if I was losing my hair, I suppose that might bother me, but I’d probably just roll with it.

Having bifocals isn’t going to bother me either.