My parents were visiting for dinner and Mom watched as I squinted while reading a recipe. I've been noticing lately that when I see something with small print, I need to adjust until I can read it. When Mom saw me do this, she immediately said, "We're going to get some glasses for you...now".
Going to the local pharmacy, we picked out a cute little pair of reading glasses with light green sides and a tortoise shell front. When we got back, I put them on, looked at the recipe and - bam. Perfect. Everything was crystal clear and easy to read.
There was something about them that bothered me though. At first I thought it was because of my birthday coming up in a few months. It's not just any birthday...it's my 40th. I have less than three months to be in my 30's and now I'm getting reading glasses? Fantastic. The more I thought about it though, that really wasn't it. I don't care too much about turning 40 for whatever reason. I actually think it's all about the glasses...well, the glasses and the second grade anyway.
You see, when I was in the second grade, our family Optometrist said that I had to wear a patch on my right eye. To make matters worse, he gave me a big pair of glasses to wear OVER my patch on one eye. Oh - and have I ever mentioned that I have the craziest, thickest head of wild curly hair? I fight it now to make it straight, but think of the Disney movie, "Brave" - and that's pretty much it.
So...give a scrawny second grade little girl a huge head of wild hair, glasses with a patch on one eye and while you're at it, name her...ohhhh, I don't know...Beatrice. Yeah, that ought to do it.
I'm lucky to have a great family and an amazing hometown full of wonderful people. It was a safe place to grow up and I never remember being laughed at or teased. I just remember hating the way that I felt. I hated wearing that patch and those glasses every single day. I hated putting them on in the morning before school and keeping my head down while I was there.
Needless to say, as I write with my new pair of glasses, seeing the computer screen better than I have in weeks, it pulls up a bit of emotion. It's amazing to think that at the age of almost 40, things from your childhood can still sting as though they were yesterday.
These glasses are a good reminder for me to think through the eyes of a child though. Things that might seem pretty insignificant to us, may be extremely huge to them.
Sometimes something so small as an eye patch, crazy hair, or even a simple pair of glasses...may be more important than we could ever imagine.