In my memory, I have a vivid image of countless blades of grass in my backyard which I was seeing for the first time in an almost magical way. When was that? The time was when I had just returned home after the cataract removal and intraocular implant on my right eye. I was just as unprepared for and amazed at what I saw as I had been during the out-patient surgical procedure itself.

Under local anesthetics for the implant, I remember seeing all sorts of colorful geometrical shapes as my Doctor of Ophthalmology did what he was so practiced in doing. “Wow,” I thought, “where did that spectacular image come from?”

Then as I viewed my backyard for the first-time post-op as I came across the deck, I stopped and almost gasped. The visual sharpness of each blade of grass and every vein on the leaves of the lilac bush were outstanding!

Keep in mind that I was extremely near-sighted, or myopic, during my childhood and beyond. And even though my vision was corrected through glasses then and later through hard contact lenses, nothing could compare with this lens-implant correction.

I realize that I, at that time in my life, was–as I am now—in an enviable position of having shelter, food, clean water, and access to medical care. For so many in the U.S.A. and throughout the world, these basic needs are not met.

My hope for you is that there is more beauty than ugliness in your current ‘backyard,’ whatever allotted space that might be. May the rising of the sun and the approach of a new day, a new beginning, give you hope and strength so you, too, may find beauty in your own backyard.

Finding Beauty Series
#4 Finding Beauty In Your Own Backyard
Connie Carlisle Polley, 2023
ConnieCarlislePolley.com
NonnyDay.com