The English writer Thomas Fuller once said, “Health is not valued till sickness comes.”  Ever since my early twenties and I had my first ocular test (where they take an image of the back inside of your eyes) I have had what is literally called “suspicious eyes.”  My eye doctor LOST it the first time she saw them.  I mean she seriously became unglued.  I have had to have them monitored ever since.  My mother had glaucoma and cataracts, as did my uncle, but they did not develop them until they were at least in their mid-sixties if I recall correctly.  I remember when I was in the first grade someone came to school and we all went in a darkened room where we were told to stand on these glow in the dark feet and read letters.  I have had to wear glasses ever since.  The weird thing is, my eye sight has always been 20/40 (which is not that bad) and now it has improved — after 40 years! — to 20/30.  But I knew when I saw the specialist after a three year hiatus something was not right.  My eyes literally felt like they were going to bulge out of my head and I had not noticed until they dilated them that they were completely dry.  Literally EVERYONE in the waiting room was at least in their 70’s and I was drawing a lot of stares.  I looked so long at this beautiful piece of art I decided to take a picture of it.  My eye pressures turned out to be high and I asked how long they’d been that way.  My doctor said there was no way of knowing.  I asked if there was any permanent damage and he said he didn’t “think so.”  I was given two sets of eye drops to take twice a day for ten days.  If the pressure didn’t get lowered he said he was going to laser essentially drainage holes in the backs of my eyes to alleviate it.  So I have had a weird sense of deja vu as I have tilted my head back to put in drops every morning and evening.  I watched Mama do that for most of my adult life.  When I went back my pressure had returned to the normal range but I will need to stay on them for the rest of my life.  Growing up I often overheard others make high handed remarks over what those who had less money should or should not do.  It is so easy to be pious and have car insurance, health insurance, and life insurance when you have money.  And yet I know first hand if one went to a movie or wanted a nicer TV they were judged.  It’s not that poor people are irresponsible; it’s about wanting to have something in life a little frivolous; something that brings them respite from the pressures of everyday survival.  I tried to save money by not going to the eye doctor and I am sorry now.  I will never know if my skipping those exams caused my pressure to rise or if it would have happened anyway.  But let me encourage you:  no matter what your financial station is in life just bite the bullet and go to the dentist to have your teeth cleaned, visit the doctor, and get your eyes examined.  Trust me when I say you are not saving money in the long run.  Heath IS wealth.