I am wearing a new pair of glasses. They fit great and those that have seen them (including me) think they look pretty good. So what’s the big deal- I bought them online! Yeah, that’s right, on the internet. I bought progressive lenses and new frames from an online eye glass store. I got better quality lenses for much less money. I also avoided all that embarrassment trying on frames in the brick and mortar store. I don’t know which is the best part- the price, the ease of buying, the lenses, or the fun of doing one more thing online. Anyway, I was reminded of my first encounter with eye glasses and it wasn’t anything like this. I hope.
I was in the first grade when I started having headaches and vision problems so my mom made an appointment with the only eye doctor in town. Can you imagine a town where there is only one choice in an eye doctor? Fortunately the one choice was a well qualified opthamologist. And the doctor was a woman.
She did it all, from routine eye exams and fitting the glasses to complex eye surgeries. Our little town was very lucky to have her and everyone knew it.
My first encounter with the lady doctor led to my wearing glasses. I cried because I knew I was going to be called Four Eyes! I knew that because I had called kids that wore glasses Four Eyes. We did that sort of thing back then. It was called teasing. It taught the concept of reaping and sowing.
Once my eye problem was diagnosed and I was going to need glasses the next step was picking out the frames. It was almost as hard back then as it is now except for one thing. My mother! She could only stand so much indecision, after all it was just frames and I was only 6 years old. So she stepped in and chose them. The ones she selected had a modern look with contemporary colors (sounds like a brochure, doesn’t it?). They were a lovely shade of pink and blue. I’m not kidding! I thought they were going to look so cool!
Just like my online order, I had to wait a bit for the glasses to come. (One hour glasses were 30 years in the future.) Once they were ready it was back to the Doc for a final check and a fitting.
I loved my new glasses. I could see with ease and that was worth the teasing about having an extra set of eyes. I was beginning to read so I was happy to wear them. I was sure the colors looked great on me too. All in all I felt pretty special wearing my pink and blue plastic glasses every day to school.
Until I saw my school picture. I guess the mirror was magic or something because I’m certain I would have noticed how stupid I looked. How dorky and ugly. I had a major meltdown when I saw myself in my first grade photo. I tried to throw the pictures away. My mother refused to let me. I never exchanged photos with my classmates that year because that would mean they would see them. All in all it was a real blow to my self-confidence.
I was in my early 30’s when a church we were attending put a bulletin board up in the back and invited the congregation to share photos of themselves through the years. I decided it was time for me to get over that first grade picture. So I took a thumbtack and stuck that picture up for everyone to see. And the more I looked at it the better I felt. Seeing my picture all those years later I realized I wasn’t so ugly as awkward. I was glad to finally close that door even if it took over 25 years.
Now I’m wondering if my mirror is still magic when I look at my new glasses? I guess I better have a photo taken and then see what I think. I will say this the frames are not pink or blue!