Just for reference, I’m writing this article in my late 60s.

Way back when I was a teenaged Airman First Class in the Air Force I underwent an eye exam as part of my annual physical. I already knew I was partially color blind but this time they wrote a prescription because my distance vision was just slightly sub-par. Within a week I was issued a pair of Air Force issue spectacles, fondly nicknamed ‘birth control glasses’. I tried them on once, didn’t notice any real difference in my vision and tossed them in a drawer, never to be worn again.

For the rest of my time in the service, they never tried to give me another pair. Whatever state I was stationed in, I passed the DMV vision test without problem. I also qualified on a few different firearms without the use of corrective lenses. After my service time, I started working in the computer field and that’s when my vision finally got bad enough to get my attention.

At first, it was just near vision that I could easily correct with readers from WalMart. I routinely kept a pair at my workstation but otherwise didn’t need them. After getting out of computers and into workamping I came to rely on them more. While working as a piler operator at the sugar beet harvest I needed to carry a pair with me just to read numbers off a machine operating time counter at the beginning and end of every shift. When working for Amazon, the readers came in very handy to read the fine print on my hand held scanner. At this point I still didn’t think my distance vision was too bad although I could tell it was getting a little worse.

During my last stint with Amazon I was a traditional employee instead of a CamperForce seasonal temp. I still only planned on working for about 3 months so during new hire orientation I signed up for the vision insurance. I found a local optometrist and almost walked out of the exam room in the first two minutes. My distance vision was much worse than I expected and seeing blurry letters was not comforting. I got my new prescription and found an eyeglass store covered by my insurance. I was pleasantly surprised that I could choose from any frames in the store and progressive lenses were covered for 2 pair. I got one clear pair and one pair of sunglasses – and almost immediately regretted it. Several people told me that it would take awhile to get used to the progressives. Well, I gave it a few months and never did like them, mostly because of the intermediate parts of the lenses.

By now, I was convinced that I needed to wear corrective lenses but I no longer had vision insurance so I started looking for stores with deals. I found one with a BOGO in effect and got two pair of lined bifocals, both clear, one with slightly more area for distance. I wore those for a few weeks and still had problems with my eyes drifting into the wrong area. Back to the store, hopefully for the final time. I still had my readers scattered around the RV so I opted for single vision (distance) glasses, clear and sunglasses. I’ve been much happier with those. I’ll hang onto the bifocals just in case I work at an Amazon warehouse in the future where I use a scanner.