Fine tuning

My world lately has been dominated (or should I say contaminated) by varying degrees of clarity. This is predominantly a factual observation - only coincidentally metaphorical - arising upon the completion of eye surgery to remove cataracts, install new lenses and correct astigmatism. The optometrist pronounced today upon withdrawing the mobile device from the front of my face that my vision for distance is 20/20. He assures me that the faint blemishes (what he called "floaters") which occasionally appear in my sight will disappear (or, more accurately as he stated, become less noticeable) with time. In the same breath he cautioned that no vision is completely perfect; and that the two eyes behave differently.

Visual Acuity: What is 20/20 Vision?

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.

Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance. Other important vision skills, including peripheral awareness or side vision, eye coordination, depth perception, focusing ability and colour vision, contribute to your overall visual ability.

Some people can see well at a distance but are unable to bring nearer objects into focus. This condition can be caused by hyperopia (farsightedness) or presbyopia (loss of focusing ability). Others can see items that are close but cannot see those far away. This condition may be caused by myopia (nearsightedness).

American Optometric Association

The figurative aspect of these events coincides with the overall conclusion of what has been a summer devoted to a battery of medical concerns.  All of the issues developed over lengthy periods of time.  Only one (dental) risks association with a prior existing condition.  The others are commonly attributable to age.  The hope is that this attentiveness to the moss and decay of life will at least briefly revive the garden.

The poetry of the transition from performance to precipice has brought us headlong into the world of comparative simplicity and undeniable constancy. We dare not pretend to overlook the immediacy of life's unfolding drama but neither will we abandon our resolve to capitalize while we may yet.  There is no point tuning a piano if it is not to be played. Soon enough the strings will respond to humidity.  The harp may even bend, as may the sound board crack.

It is always uncertain what awaits.  However when the manageable duties have been performed there is a buoyancy which succeeds.