I just had Lasik surgery yesterday. Today my vision is better than 20/20! It’s 20/15, by the way. I have eyes like a hawk. I’ve been spending the day staring at the details in the horizon. Every leaf in the faraway trees is sharp, bright green and shiny. The hills are dark and grainy like piles of ground coffee. I know they’ve always been like that. Today I just get to appreciate the view.
I’ve been wearing glasses since my early teens. I’ve been doing the sexy librarian look for too long. It’s cute, I guess, but during my last eye exam I was told that I’m a good candidate for corrective surgery. My prescription has been stable for years and the sooner I got surgery, the more years I could benefit from it. So I went for it.
What does 20/20 vision mean to me as a dancer? A whole lot. I have tried to work without vision correction and it’s a basically pointless. From across the room, I can’t tell people apart from stains on the furniture. Though some customers may as well be stains on the furniture for all they’re worth. Also, I can’t see facial expressions until I’m within grabbing distance. I can’t “size up” or make any guesses about a customer’s potential if I can’t see him (or her!).
And that’s just on the floor. On the floor being blind is a waste of time. On the stage, it’s just dangerous. Stages are narrow, uneven and sometimes soiled with baby oil. At least a few stages in Vegas are a bit narrower than a sidewalk. A wrong step can mean a broken neck. I was once called to the stage before I had time to put my contact lenses in. I ran out of the locker room and got up there and, holy crap, I had to just hold on to the pole so I wouldn’t fall off the stage. On top of that, you can’t see which customers are particularly interested. Somebody might have money for you in “plain sight” that you can’t tell is there. Then you look rude for ignoring them when you don’t go over to them to pick it up.
Anyway, I’m excited to have another enhanced pair. Justice is no longer blind.
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