I can’t see a thing. When I’m swimming, this impairment has led to my crashing into another swimmer, jumping, thinking I see another swimmer, when it’s really a pylon at the end of the lane, etc. I couldn’t time myself using the clocks on the wall or the pool deck because I couldn’t see them.

I usually wear my glasses to the pool so I can find an empty lane, and I leave the glasses at the edge of the pool as climb in. I check them every time I finish a lap.

This morning, I couldn’t find my glasses when I got up, so I put on my contacts. When I went back to wearing contacts in 2005, I had planned to swim in them, knowing it would make it much easier for me. I asked my Optometrist if I could swim in m contacts, expecting him to say , “Of course!”

But he didn’t. He said it could possibly lead to an eye infection, especially if you were swimming in a lake. He went on to say that going barefoot could put you in contact with some deadly worm. . .

I thought what he said was ridiculous, but it violated my conscience to swim in my contacts. I found that if I had them on while I had the kids in the pool with me, it was SO much easier for me to keep up with the children, but I just had to suck it up, because the Optometrist warned against it.

My husband knew where my glasses were, but by then, I had made up my mind to swim in contacts. I put my goggles on, and they formed a tight seal around my eyes.

My contacts never got a drop of water on them! And I could see! (Except for when the stupid goggles fogged up, and I wasn’t going to bread that seal just to get rid of the fog!

The goggles were something I hadn’t mentioned to the Optometrist. So I had left out a valuable detail. It was quite the ‘duh!’ moment when I thought about it.