A week ago right now, I was absolutely miserable. Really and truly miserable. And a little bit frightened, actually, by the weird things happening with my eye. (I had originally feared a case of pink eye . . . but it was soon apparent that this was no pink eye we were dealing with.)

Anyway.

I am happy to report that my corneal ulcer has already healed (thanks antibiotic eye drops!) and the inflammation is much reduced (thanks prednisone eye drops!) and I can comfortably hang out in the World of Light once again! I thank you all for your kind words of support and concern. They meant so much to me! I am happy to be back to my “regular life” (although one that will be bereft of contact lenses . . . after 50 years of wear) (ummm. . . not the same pair, of course) with a renewed appreciation for . . . vision. And the absolute wonder of . . . sight. For ophthalmologists and modern medicine and having some “back-up glasses” on hand (even though they may not be all that flattering).

In the meantime, I quietly turned 65 on Saturday.

And I got my hair cut to celebrate!
(Like . . . I really got my hair cut.)

I’ve been planning this for awhile . . . and I thought it was appropriate to coordinate it with my 65th birthday. I’m sure you won’t remember this, but I decided to grow out my short hair when I turned 60 (back in 2019). I had no idea why, but I was ready for something different. I also had no idea WHAT that might look like, exactly, but I knew I wanted . . . something longer. (My hair was very short and very layered at the time.) My stylist and I decided to just start growing out the layers . . . slowly but deliberately, with the understanding that I would find the “right” style . . . eventually. Someday.

And then, of course, the pandemic hit. What BETTER time to let your hair grow, right???? While a lot of my friends decided to grow out their gray during the pandemic, I decided to see how long I could grow mine — all the while looking for new style ideas.

And grow it did!
Mostly because I couldn’t find any new style ideas that appealed to me!

So I tried hard to be a long hair gal. But, y’know? As much as I loved being able to just pull my hair back in a ponytail, I didn’t really like my long hair all that much. I kept searching for alternative hair cuts/styles that appealed to me.

And here I am! Five years later . . .

65.
And newly coiffed!

My stylist (a different one, actually, than the one I had pre-pandemic) and I landed on . . . a layered shoulder length bob. She spent more time demonstrating all the things I’ll be able to “do” with it than she did cutting it. I loved all of her ideas — but I gotta be honest. The chances of me picking up and using a flat iron (I do have one) or a curling iron (I have one of those, too) on a regular basis are . . . pretty slim. When we settled on length, I insisted on “still ponytail-able” . . . so we’ll see where this ends up.

But for today . . . age 65 + 2 days . . . this seems Right.
So I head into year 66 . . . without contacts but with new hair.
And I’m good with that!

“My life is better with every year of living it.”
   — Rachel Maddow