Photo Friday (vol. XXI) [four-eyes edition]

What can I say... It's been a long week (at least for those of us still on the green side of the grass).

Almost immediately after I posted my last entry saying I might take a few days off in order to regroup, I received an e-mail from someone telling me that a mutual friend had had a heart attack and was in the hospital.   You can imagine how rationally I digested that news!  Let's just say I had a few, um, interrogative moments alone with my maker.

So far the news on this latest victim seems to be cautiously optimistic, but just now it seems to me that the most pressing danger in the world is not radical Islam, the unchecked spread of disease in the third world or land mines.  No, the biggest danger seems to be counting me among one's friends.

Obviously I'm [mostly] joking about this... but it does seem that the common denominator for much of the recent tragedy in the world... is me.

Moving on...

Gilad and I now share something more than a collection of genetic material:  We now both wear glasses.

I have wanted glasses all my life.  I was always  incredibly jealous of the kids in school who had neat frames and cases and all the paraphernalia that comes with being a glasses-wearer.  On top of that, I always felt that people who wore glasses just looked, y'know... smarter.

Unfortunately (totally tongue-in-cheek here) I have always had perfect vision.

Gilad, on the other hand, has been complaining recently that he was getting headaches in class and while reading.  Zahava and I were pretty sure he had inherited my glasses-envy, but we didn't want to play around with something as important as vision... so we set up an appointment for him with the local ophthalmologist.

I figured, while we were there, I could also get an eye exam... just to make sure everything was 20/20 with me.  It had been a few years since my last exam, so this was really more about being sensible than my long-standing desire for glasses.  Really.

Well, the jury came back with a guilty verdict on both of us.   Gilad needed mild glasses for everyday classroom work and reading... and I have officially reached the age where I need a mild reading prescription for making out the fine print. 

It's crazy that books, magazines and even newspapers are all printed entirely in fine print these days!  When did that happen?

So, without further do... here is a picture (yes, only one picture today... I'll make it up to you next week) of father and son wearing our spectacular new specs.  His are from the eye-doctor... mine are from the 'senior rack' at CVS.

OK, I'll admit it...  now that I have them glasses are way less cool than I thought they'd be.  However, I can now do that neat trick that I've always wanted to try whenever I want to make a point:

I look earnestly at the person (or persons) with whom I'm speaking... remove my glasses in one quick motion... point one of the bows directly at the addressee(s)... and say. "What if...".

How cool is that?!

Shabbat Shalom!