The stroke…although minor…had affected my vision slightly…to the degree that I couldn’t read very well…at least not without high magnification.

I was advised that in cases like mine, my eyesight should return to…about 90%.  I somehow managed to find this reassuring.

I had “retired” from my job as assistant editor of  the Rocky Point Press a couple of years ago so there was no rush to “heal up quick” and get back to work.

Regarding my everyday life activities…I could set my own schedule.  Obviously money was not a problem…but quickly getting back to volunteering at the Rocky Point Lakeside Daycare center was the best medicine I could ever imagine.

My new “compromised sight” was often amusing to the little squirts that came there every day.

I had discovered that face recognition was also a problem for me.  So if a kid was more than 50 feet away…I had no clue as to who they were.  So, on their own, the kids  came up with a plan.

If they needed my help or just wanted my attention…they would call “Mrs. Anderson or Mrs. A!” and then add their own name. It worked perfectly.  

Many kids also found it funny when I would “ask them” for help to read something for me because the print was too small.

They would give me a blank look and then I would realize that even though they could “see” the words…they didn’t yet know how to “read” the words.

And then they would just about break my heart by saying, “I’m sorry I can’t read yet, Mrs. Anderson.”

If I had to have a “saving grace part” of my whole stroke experience…aside from Chuck getting tossed by his young tennis instructor…it would be the help and love I got from my kids at Lakeside.

Now if only they could come up with a solution to help me fall asleep at night. Before my stroke…reading had been as important to falling asleep as turning off the bedside lamp and closing my eyes. 

There was nothing like reading an exciting murder mystery to pleasantly send me off to dreamland.  Apparently now…I had a different mystery to solve.