Four eyes forever

I've worn eyeglasses since I was seven years old.

I can recall thinking glasses were pretty cool and how I wanted a pair. I convinced myself that the writing on the blackboard was looking blurry, and maybe I'd better have my eyes examined. My ever-diligent parents promptly whisked me over to the local eye doctor for a checkup. As it turned out, I really did need glasses, albeit a mild prescription.

My very first pair of glasses were similar in shape and style to the glasses I now wear (above). They had the popular catseye-shaped frame (which today is described as a "vintage" look) and were a translucent pale blue. Despite my secret desire to wear glasses, when it came right down to it, I felt embarrassed showing up at school with this new apparatus on my face.

I quickly got used to my glasses though, and before long, I felt self-conscious to be seen without them (still am, somewhat). I've never tried contact lenses, and never had any desire to. If I can manage to unearth any old photos, it would be fun to see the changing styles via my eyewear choices over the years. I remember when wire frames and aviators became popular, then there were the BIG glasses, which did no one any favors, particularly someone like me with a strong prescription. I had a round, John Lennon granny glass phase, then a long phase of boring, functional eyewear.

Happily, I've come full circle and have now returned to this wonderful tortoise shell catseye frame from Eyes on Fremont (which has the most unique selection of one-of-a-kind frames I've ever seen).

I love my glasses. I love wearing glasses because 1) they enable me to see, and 2) they're fun to wear, and 3) after all these years, I still think they're kind of cool.