A new look

It was due time for a visit to the optometrist. Well past due time, if I am to be completely honest. Eyewear prescriptions are typically valid for 2 years. I haven't been for quite some time. So long, in fact, that I couldn't really remember when I had been in last.

"Have you been here before?" asked the desk clerk.

"Yes, but it was a while ago, before I was married, so it is under a different name."

I gave him my information. He pulled up my records...from 5 and a half years ago!

"Your glasses haven't given you any problems in 5 and a half years?" asked the optometrist's assistant.

"Not really," I said, "I did have to pop the lenses out and put them into new frames. I got two of the same frames the last time I was here..."

"I see," she said.

My glasses really have held up pretty well. I got a pair of sunglasses for lifeguarding, which I rarely wore because the glass was tinted way too dark for me, and then I got a regular pair as well. I had to replace one of the nose pads, and fix the ear piece once, and then about two years ago I switched the lenses in the frame. Other than that, they're in great condition.

The lenses are scratched, though, the paint is peeling, and the metal on the nose piece is so pliable that it bends much to easily now. And they don't really stay on my face anymore; the slightest bump sends them flying.

It was time for new ones.

The optometrist was impressed that after 5 and a half years my eyes hadn't really changed that much. I'm still blind.

"Take off your glasses and tell me at which line you can no longer read without squinting."

That's easy. I have to squint to see the top letter.

"Well, I know the top letter is an 'E,' but its' blurry. Very blurry. More like a square, actually."

"And now with your left eye."

"Same thing."

Nice. I could read the whole chart with my glasses, though. I'm not sure that's really comforting. But since my eyes haven't changed much, perhaps it's almost time for Lasik. I hope so. It's one of my post-Egypt dreams.

After my prescription was all written out, we went to chose frames. I am a very indecisive person, so Andrew came along to help me choose some new ones. He is a lot more brave than I am and convinced me to try a completely new look. I'm excited to see how I feel about them when I have the real lenses in them.

Rachel, of course, wanted to participate in the hunt for the perfect pair of glasses. She hasn't ever really cared about my glasses until today. They've just been an extension of my face for her--she'd knock them off occasionally, and grabbed them a time or two out of curiosity, but mostly she's just let them be. Today, however, she found them absolutely fascinating.

Andrew and I were grabbing glasses off of the racks and trying them on and she felt terribly left out of the whole process. She grabbed my real glasses and tried to put them on. She grabbed at the glasses Andrew and I were holding and tried to put them on. She grabbed glasses from the stands and tried to put them on.

Mostly she ended up poking herself in the eyes and ears. We helped her into a pair, which she immediately wanted to take off to examine.

Rachel and Mommy trying on glasses

When she started getting a little too rough, Andrew tried distracting her away from the glasses. She threw an amazingly loud temper tantrum, with real tears and lots of screaming. So I picked her up and tried to comfort her, but she went right for my eyes and grabbed my glasses right off my face.

She was still fussing at the counter while we were paying for the visit.

"If you're a very unlucky girl," I told Rachel, "Maybe you'll have Mommy's eyes and need glasses when you're older."

Andrew shook his head, "Don't do it Rachel!"

"Yes," I agreed, "Have Daddy's eyes! Glasses are a pain!"

I don't think I've ever been so happy to leave a store before. But both Rachel and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new glasses!