Losing my 20/20 vision and too many pairs of reading glasses

With age two things happen simultaneously: You see things more clearly and you don't.

What I mean is with age comes wisdom and the ability to look at life, even your own, more clearly, objectively and honestly. Sadly, as my mental clarity has improved my visual acuity has diminished.

Which brings me to reading glasses. I'm not one who loses things. I've never lost a cell phone, wallet or any of the other things people often lose. Yet I somehow managed to lose 2 pairs of reading glasses in the past year and a half.

My third pair of reading glasses

Up until a few years ago I had 20/20 vision. I first noticed that I was losing my ability to see things close up when I wasn't able to thread a needle. Since then my near vision has gradually become blurrier and blurrier. Laminated menus with a small font in a dimly lit restaurant for dinner? Forget it. I won't be able to read it all. What is most annoying is I need them to read the settings on the back of my camera.

My iPhone used to look like this.

Now, It looks like this.

My optometrist said I needed reading glasses. I use the +125 strength. I ordered a nice fancy pair and lost them on an airplane a few months later by hooking them to the neckline of my shirt. I got a cheaper pair at the drug store and (I think) lost them in a restaurant. I have a new pair but don't want to lose them so I decided I needed one of those eyeglass leashes  to keep track of them. But not the kind that loop to each arm of the glasses so you can hang them around your neck. I wanted something more stylish and a lot more convenient.

The other day I remembered I had some really cute silver pendents that were essentially rings that I could slide the glasses onto to hold them at the ready. So I strung some Blue Apatite semi-precious gemstones with tiny, vintage nail head beads as spacers and used two Iolite stones on either side of the silver ring and strung together a very special necklace.

It's dual purpose! I can wear the piece as a necklace and turn it into my reading glasses holder as needed.

Turns out this isn't an original idea. I popped on over to Etsy and found many designers offering both the traditional two rubber loop style leashes and necklace eyeglass holders.

So you can buy them or make then. I'm guessing some of you might want to learn how to make your own eyeglass holder necklace. If you do, let me know and I will create a tutorial for this idea and drop it into the idea gallery over on The Flirty Guide.

And wish me luck. I'm hoping this pair makes it through the end of the year :)