The Blueberry Murder

I’ve worn glasses ever since my family complained that two tablespoons of chili powder should not be confused with two teaspoons. But until this month, I didn’t need them to pass the Department of Motor Vehicles eye test.

My new license restriction is an official acknowledgement that like most people over 45, my eyesight is deteriorating. My optometrist also claims everyone eventually develops cataracts if they live long enough. And the good news is….?

Fortunately, there are some great “reading industry” developments for aging eyes. The new HarperLuxe line of books, for example, features easier-to-read 14-point type (as opposed to the normal 11-point). They look like normal paperbacks so you don’t have to lug around a 16-point LARGE TYPE hardcover announcing weak eyesight, which appeals to the vain, aging Baby Boomers among us.

The Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle handheld digital book devices (which enable you to download books for a fee) also offer the option to enlarge word size.

Products like these make it easier for people to keep reading books (important to writers like me) and also to deal with the reality of failing eyesight. Though for most of us, it still takes something like my cooking disaster before we’ll admit it. For my aunt, it came the day she thwacked the fly swatter on the kitchen table only to have my uncle announce: “MaryAnn, you just killed a blueberry.”

That story always makes me laugh. But now I truly understand why she murdered a blueberry. Do you have a similar "crime" to confess?