From My Perspective

Opening my refrigerator gave me the idea for this post.  Sort of. 
I opened my fridge and saw the Laughing Cow Spreadable Cheese Wedges I bought Saturday on the shelf waiting to be opened.  Then I noticed the flavor..."Light French Onion".  But I meant to get "Light Creamy Swiss". 

Story of my life:  "But I meant to buy....",  "I thought it said...", "Wow, I read that wrong...!"

About four years ago, I realized that my eyes don't work correctly sometimes.  I found this out purely by accident.  I worked at Sylvan Learning Center and decided to participate in a screening which recorded the movement of my eyes while reading.  The screening indicated that my left eye "shut down" and stopped relaying information to my brain often as I read and made the right eye do all the work. 

When a person with normal vision reads, both eyes scan the first few letters of the word, the brain completes the word and the eyes move on to the next word before finishing the whole initial word.  If the person finishes the sentence or phrase and is confused about the meaning, He/she will quickly look back and correct the mis-read word.  For example, if the person reads the sentence, "He loved her with all his heart,"  as "He loved her with all his heard,"  they would know to go back and make the correction.  When both eyes are not working toward the same end, the brain more often then not mis-reads the word or will exchange letters/words from the line of words above or below.

I write all this to say, it's not carelessness that stocks our pantry and refrigerator with unintentionally purchased items.  I usually am able to come home from a day of grocery shopping with correct purchases, but at least once a month, as I'm unpacking the bags, I notice I bought something I didn't intend to buy.  Usually, just the wrong flavor, salt content, fat percentage.  It's like the word-filled aisles of Wal-mart are overwhelming and my left eye says, "Okay, I'm done," especially if I'm looking back and forth between the product on the shelf and the coupon in my hand.

The fact that my left eye is hesitant to work sometimes also affects my depth perception.  Now that I'm aware, I very seldom gripe at Troy about his driving.  For years, I thought he was tail-gating.  Turns out, the cars in front of us appeared to me much closer than they actually were.  Sorry, Troy.  This little vision issue makes me a super cautious driver because my perception is that I'm too close to a car when, in fact, another car could probably fit comfortably between us.

So, if you ever throw something toward me and expect me to catch it.  I won't.  If I ever ride with you and you notice I'm searching for the imaginary brake on the passenger side of the car, don't take it personally.  And If I'm ever reading to you and make several pauses, please don't stop listening.  I'm just making sure that the word is actually "heart" and not "heard".