random thoughts – Day 1,771 – (Tuesday) – eye see

Back in elementary school, around third grade, I flunked the in-school eye exam. This meant going to an eye doctor for glasses. Mummu wore glasses and I went to her eye doctor. And because in my mind, Mummu hung the moon and all the stars and the sun, I got eyeglass frames that were like hers. The frames were brown and called “Peanut Bar” and I can’t believe I remember that. Note: I didn't name the frame, that's the work of the folks at the manufacturers and retailers and it's easier than trying to remember a code number.

Me and my crooked glasses.

After a while, my glasses were all crooked, probably from reading in bed and falling asleep while wearing them. We weren’t eye glass repair people, so I had crazy crooked glasses for a while. The problem with being a kid needing glasses in a family where the motto was “We can’t afford it” meant being always at the mercy of family budget and a potential wait of several years before getting new ones. 

As a college student, I finally got contact lenses. The first thing I did after leaving the eye doctor’s office that day with my new contacts was to go to a department store (Stuart’s in Fitchburg) and bought brown aviator sunglasses off the rack like all my friends were able to do. For the next few decades, glasses were optional and were usually worn at home when nobody would see me. Cheap sunglasses became the collectible. 

Eyes keep changing, and eventually it was multi-focal contacts, and then multi-focal contacts with reading glasses. And then one day, even reading glasses didn’t help with the tiny lettering on tags when I was working in retail and I ended up back in glasses which could be removed to see close, small things like tiny stock numbers. There was no point paying for contacts and supplies if I also had to wear glasses with them most of the time.

The current rotation.

The key difference in being an adult is I can buy glasses whenever I want. Online eyeglass retailers with great prices mean I can (and do) shop for glasses on a whim. My prescription hasn’t changed in several years, so the number of frames in rotation (and on reserve) keeps growing. They are a necessity, but also an accessory (like shoes!), chosen by mood, outfit, activity, and weather. 

The latest frame, in green acrylic and called "Tamalpais," arrived this past weekend. Like the orange acrylic pair bought last summer (Petula), they darken in the sun, which is more convenient that the two pairs with magnetic clip-on sunnies. 

The current rotation is six pairs deep and includes Tamalpais in gray and green and Zephyr in clear that turns purple in the sun. A seventh beloved frame (Japan Morning in light blue) was broken a couple years ago when they fell onto the floor and I stepped on them and broke one of the arms and I'm still in mourning. The frame is no longer available and the eyeglass shop I checked with couldn’t help with new arms. So sad. I even looked online to buy arms with no luck. 

Several pairs of sunglasses and other frames are stored in the closet, waiting for their turn to flow back into the rotation. It’s great to not be a kid stuck wearing crooked or out of style glasses because sibling dental work, a broken car, or a furnace are also competing for family budget dollars.