That's because without his contact lenses he's as good as blind. When he wakes up in the morning (or in the middle of the night, which happens a fair bit now that we've got a toddler), he's sightless until his groping hand fastens around those frames.
We've lived together for some time now, and in that time I've learned not to move his things, not even an inch. Not only those glasses, but any object that he relies on, like his cell phone. He long ago explained to me that as a nearly blind child with a perpetually evolving prescription, he adapted by developing systems for locating his things without the boost of contacts or spectacles. Once he decided where he was going to keep an object (today: iPod; then: favorite Star Wars action figure), he stuck to it with a tenacity that cannot be appreciated by those of us with 20/20.
I do appreciate it now though. I am the kind of person who is forever wondering where her keys are. Yes, I have a place for them (there's a key rack integrated into our landing strip), but do I always put them there upon returning home? No.
With The Child's recently acquired hobby of moving household objects around randomly, however, I have finally decided to take a page from the blind. Not just by making a place for everything, but by religiously putting everything back in its place, all the time.
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I wish I had your strength! Good luck.
I have envied people as stable as your husband for years. Being completely immune to ritual has its drawbacks. I can imagine how great my life would be if everything had a place.
view caraliz's profile
Nicely put!
Leah
view Leah's profile
Now you have me wondering if my insistence that Things Go In Their Exact Place and Closets Must Be Impeccably Orderly are unconscious compensation for my lousy vision. Interesting...
view wende in the twin cities's profile
Those of us who are near blind from birth can certainly understand. As another point, doors are either open or closed all the way, so that I can moved through the house at night without vision- without breaking a toe!
You simply cannot afford to be careless about things when you are THAT blind. I am only blind a few minutes a day, the time it takes to grope my way to the bathroom, but these are very very important minutes!
view witchdoc's profile
Wende - I'd have to make that a qualified YES! I too have extremely poor vision and can't count the number of times I wandered around the house looking for my glasses after I've removed my contacts, until I got into the habit of putting them in certain places. Now, as soon as I put in my contacts for the day the glasses go in the case, in a basket in the bathroom. They're there when I take my contacts out at night. When I go to bed, they're put in the same place on my nightstand so that if (God forbid) I have to make a run for it in the middle of the night, I can see where I'm going.
I can also get dressed (without contacts in or lights on) because all my clothes are in certain places. Usually.
view oceandreamer56's profile
Another reason to have ritualistic "every thing in its place" philosophy is the dreaded ADD (attention deficit). Without my rigid organization of essential items I would forever be searching, frustrated and out of control. A certain level of organization belongs in every life. Now my desk... is an entirely different matter but I do know what is in which pile. :)
view Alice's profile
I am so with him...I am almost ritualistic about the location of essential items...I absolutely HATE looking for things...
view Jess2nola's profile
If I could find a man who puts everything back where it belongs then I'd get married!
view anne's profile
Oh, I love that there's a flask in that grouping! Next to glasses, what could be more important!!
view anne's profile
i have a fiance (of sorts) that has awful vision, but never wore his glasses. he recently found them and has been wearing them ever since - i put them on and i swear the boy was blind - i can't believe i let him drive me around all those years without them. but he has a place for most everything - except for dirty clothes and dirty dishes - those are left to me, bleh. but, the things that have their place are very weird - he has to balance the toothpaste in the cabinet ON THE TIP. and it's not that kind that has the huge cap. no no, it's the flip top that is TINY. he wigs out if i do something else with it. his notebook has a little stretchy loop for the pen and if it's a milimeter too high or low, he wigs agani. there is no reason for this pickiness. sheesh! i, on the other hand, have add and ocd but it's the kind where if i can't do it perfectly, i'm not doing it at all - and i will fold the same clothes over and over again until they're perfect on the shelf - so they end up not getting done so as to avoid the three hour long folding bonanza.
view elizabeth in AL's profile
I'm glad other people do this too! I'm very short sighted and however disorganised I am with everything else I have to have my contact lenses in exactly the right place. And make sure there's nothing where it shouldn't be so I don't fall over it before I put them in!
view tin_angel's profile