Life Changers!

Sometimes in life, something happens to change the way you see life, your outlook on everything. Such as going on a mission (check), getting your first real grown up job (check), meeting the person you're going to be with forever (check), or getting eye surgery (CHECK!!!) I was thinking of life changing experiences today, and I have loved my life and all the things that have influenced it, but I don't think I have ever had such a dramatic life changing experience in such a short amount of time like I did this week. My life is significantly better than it was last Wednesday. (Wow Tara, could you be more dramatic). No, because I am being serious. Last Thursday I had PRK which is an abbreviation for really long words that I can't pronounce, so we will continue to refer to it as PRK. This is an alternative to Lasik eye surgery. I guess my eyes wouldn't work for Lasik or something like that, so my eye doctor told me he could fix my eyes with PRK. At first I was skeptical... you can fix my eyes? These eyes? The ones that have been in my face my whole life. Because this doctor doesn't know what its like to have MY eyes. My eyes are so bad. I'm not going to say they are the worst because I'm sure people have worse eyes than mine, but for me, they were so bad. I will never forget my first eye check up in 2nd grade. The nice lady didn't ask me what the letters were on the screen, she said, "Can you see that?" To which I responded. No. She kept putting other letters on the screen and I kept saying, "No, no, no, no, no" Finally I took a guess... "G?" And she said "no." A week later my parents got a letter in the mail saying I needed glasses. Horrible timing, we were just about to go to Park City. So I had to get super geeky ski googles that went OVER my already geeky glasses. I had braces, glasses, and I felt like a dork for years.

Finally I proved I was responsible enough for contacts. Now I don't feel so geeky, but that didn't improve the quality of my life, just the quality of how I looked. (hahaha). I still had to worry about stuff getting in my contacts, changing them every month (was I really supposed to change them EVERY month?) buying solution because I felt like I was always on empty, going to the doctor every year to get more, not falling asleep with them in my eyes, not going swimming, or enjoying the beach like my friends would, having them fall out in public and not being sure what to do other than just put it back in your eye... and the list goes on. Contacts were great, but they were a hassle. A hassle that I lived with for a decade.

I met a girl in church a few months ago that was my age, and she just had Lasik. I always knew that Lasik was something I wanted to do eventually... but when does eventually ever really come, you know?! I knew that I couldn't have it if I was preggo or could become preggo, so was I going to wait until my kids were all grown up and I was in my 40s, when your eyesight goes bad anyway for being old. I was sure it was one of those dreams that wouldn't happen. But one day I drove past an eye surgery place and thought... wait. why not?! I'm a grown up. I'm not having kids right now. I can afford to treat myself. So I went to the doctor, he told me he'd fix my eyes, I believed him... and HE DID!!!!

Last weekend was arguably one of the worst weekends of my life. Filled with darkness, bluriness, and never ending movies and netflix. Sure it might sound like it was nice and relaxing, but it was anything but. I did have a cute boy nurse me back to health, and that was pretty great, but when he wasn't there, it was miserable. I was afraid it didn't work, I thought my vision was gone forever. I had a couple of priesthood blessings to reassure me, and did a lot of praying in that time. Yesterday when I went to my post-op appointment, the doctor was blown away at how good my eyes were! Most people don't see this well after 5 days, he said! I wouldn't say my vision is perfect right now, but it is SO much better than it has ever been in my life.

My life has changed, and I love it so much. I love being able to see first thing when I wake up. And I love reaching over to put my glasses on and remembering, oh wait, I don't need to! I love that I don't have to worry about putting my contacts in or taking them out every day. I love that I can just see things. I feel so very blessed that I have vision. I always thought this would never happen until I was resurrected and had a perfected body. Not when I was 23!!! Things are good. Life continues to change around me, and I continue to embrace those life changers, but for now, I'm just going to be happy that I can see! I love being able to see.

"How can instantly improve vision not be at the top of your to-do list?" - Brian Regan