Unexplained Mysteries

I've been meaning to write about unexplained mysteries. Yes, I know that Pioneer Woman wrote about the same topic today. That's because she and I are cyber-soulmates and she read my mind. I had the idea first, but because I love and adore her I won't cyber-sue her for encroaching upon my psyche. Because, you know, I'd be happy to share my cyber-psyche with Ree any day. I guess that makes me a bit of a cyber-blogger-Lesbian or something.

But I digress.

One day (and it just happened to be my birthday) in November of 2000, I woke up and, like every other day since I suddenly needed glasses six weeks after the birth of my twins 11 years earlier, I reached for my glasses. On this particular day, however, I couldn't see with my glasses on. At first, I figured I was just particularly sleepy that day and my eyes needed extra time to get used to the prism which allowed me to see one image instead of two. But no matter how many times I blinked or how hard I tried to adjust the image, my glasses worked the exact opposite way they were supposed to on that day: I saw two images with the glasses and one without them!

As I made my way through the day, I repeatedly put on and took off my glasses, assuming that my brain would "click back" to it's broken state (officially called "fourth cranial nerve palsy") and the glasses would work as they were supposed to, re-aligning the pesky vertical imbalance that I'd learned to live with. But that didn't happen! Lynn, my friend and co-worker, took me out to lunch for my birthday that day and we discussed all the possible reasons for my sudden cure. The brain is a strange organ, we decided, and it had decided to fix itself as suddenly as it had broken years before.

I didn't really need an explanation; I was simply thrilled that I could see (single) again! For the rest of the day and into the evening, I kept my glasses off and I could see perfectly -- one perfect image, without even a hint of a floating second image. Hallelujah! I was cured! I put my glasses into their case and into my purse, assuming that they'd drift to the bottom of my purse and then eventually be relegated to a bottom drawer somewhere, a reminder of my mystery affliction of the past. Then I went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up, opened my eyes, and... I couldn't see. Or at least I couldn't see single. Duplicate objects floated in front of me, as they had for 11 years - except for the day before, my birthday.

I've never been able to explain what happened that day. Why could I see perfectly for one day, for my birthday? Was there a medical explanation? Last month, when I was given the option to have surgery to fix my vertical imbalance, I thought back to my "birthday gift" and couldn't help but wonder -- if I had the surgery, would double vision mysteriously come back to me one day? So far that hasn't happened, and I only see single now that I've had the surgery.

But I still wonder what happened on my birthday eight years ago. Can it be explained?

(By the way, here's a photo of me, taken a week after the surgery, showing my only-for-reading -- yippee!! -- glasses. I love these glasses and even my picky kids think they're stylish.)

Other unexplained mysteries:

Many (many) years ago, before we were married, Tom and I and a bunch of friends went on a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain. One night, as we lay in bed in the ground floor condo apartment that was surrounded by snow, we distinctly heard a man's voice between the two of us. Neither of us can recall exactly what was said, but it was definitely a man's voice and we both heard it. It wasn't scary the instant it happened, but as we tried to figure it out, it became more and more creepy!

And there's another unexplained mystery -- one that took place on our wedding night. (Oh, stop!) We spent our wedding night at the Paso Robles Inn in Central California, a quick overnight on the way to our honeymoon in Monterey and Yosemite. We'd heard that the hotel was haunted and found that to be a fun reason to stay there, never believing that it really was haunted. But that night we hardly got any sleep because (oh, stop!) there was an incessant tapping on the headboard that went on all night. Tap, tap, tap, all night long. And the bed was set at an angle in the corner, so the headboard didn't touch a wall or any other surface. It's another unexplained mystery!

What are the unexplained mysteries in your life?