When I visited a glasses store recently (sorry, I mean an ophthalmic dispenser), I could see the choices have expanded greatly since I first began wearing glasses in the second week of Grade 1. I was the first child in my class to be fondly called “four-eyes.”
Actually, I didn’t see the choices very well. Without my glasses, I squinted and trusted a friend to select from the blurry selection before me.
I suspiciously believe she selected some of them purely for entertainment value.
“Those (snicker) look (guffaw) great on you! Who would have thought the lime green octagonal ones would suit you so well?”
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I wish I had worn my contact lenses so I could have more insight into her selections.
Instead I made a spectacle of myself as I stumbled into counters and mirrors.
What a wide variety. Plastic, metal and titanium frames. Lenses can be scratch-resistant, fog-proof, UV-protected, bi-focaled, tri-focaled, regular and unleaded.
They can be oval, round, square, cat-eyed, rectangular and so forth. Some lenses gradually darken. Others come with super-magnetic sunglasses.
There are foldable, unbreakable or really fragile glasses that could shatter with the gust of a prairie wind.
Which reminds me of how many glasses I broke in school sports as my face met every ball, racket, stick and bat.
I believe it happened because I secretly hated my glasses. Yet every new pair was the same old ugly green plastic style.
The tools for repair were 1) masking tape 2) duct tape 3) hockey tape 4) electrical tape 5) a Band-Aid.
Once, when considering the cost of a second broken pair within a year, my parents told me I would just have to live with the tape. Out of pity, (or maybe embarrassment) my sports team actually took up a collection for new glasses.
They lasted two months. I hope my new ones last longer.
