I have recently joined the cataract surgery club. I had both eyes done in a two-week period, and things are blurry but improving. Husband Dan’s grandmother said that cataract surgery gave her wrinkles, sad but true. Rattling around in my head is Johnny Nash’s lovely old song, “I can see clearly now.” The lyrics are incredibly apropos for a cataract surgery patient and a rumor floated around for years that Nash wrote it after cataract surgery. Not a true story, but fun to think about.
I can see clearly now the lake season is ending. TVA has lowered the water level at Norris Lake, and soon the lake will belong mostly to those who fish. While I love the feeling of flying across the water, wind blowing in my face, lunch at a marina and lazing in the water, I know if lake season was year-round, I would end up feeling about it like I currently feel about my super-producing blueberry patch; I love it, but enough is enough.
We can all see clearly that the upcoming election is going to be dreadful. I once worked in a school board campaign, a David and Goliath battle. We had our slingshot while the other side was big and powerful. We were few but intense, feeling we were saving our school and community. Incredibly we won, and that’s when I found out one can make a difference. Dreadful as the election is going to be, I will vote. I can see clearly that it is important.
Because I can see clearly now, the roads around Knoxville are safer. My driving has been described as something to do with my hands while I talk, and the fact that in the past I could only see interstate signs about five seconds before I drove under them didn’t help matters. When I was working at Carter High School, I once drove John Anderson, one of our assistant principals, to a Partners in Education meeting. Mr. Anderson represented the administration, and I was the chairperson for our school. I thought I was driving just fine until Mr. Anderson said, in his former driver’s education teacher’s very calm voice, “You can ease over into the next lane now, Mrs. Arp.”
Here’s hoping you have a wonderful seeing clearly day, week and even life. I know I’m going to try to do that. Now that I’ve put Johnny Nash’s song in your head, with many thanks to Beth Kinnane for posting a song link last week, I hope you have been and will continue to sing this uplifting song loudly and proudly. I know I have been (in the car, in the shower … you know.)
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell.