I first got glasses when I was about 12. The world ended. Literally. Only nerds wore glasses, and damn it I would rather walk into walls and miss out on the lunchtime perv than wear those things.
Seems I’d been blind as a bat for sometime, and I just assumed everyone else was too. I copied from the student next to me rather than the blackboard, and dodgeball was a horror best avoided. Imagine not being able to see the balls until a microsecond before they hit – extreme stress. I even played netball, but because I couldn’t catch nobody threw the ball to me, and that was appreciated. My mother only picked up on it when she asked me the time one day and I got up, walked to the clock and put my face 30cm away from it. What, you mean other people can see from all the way across the room? No way!
Off to the optometrist we went. Well, you’re pov so you may choose one of these 3 frames. Ugly, man-ugly, and Fugly. Woo! Obviously my entrance into the world of sight wasn’t the favourite part of my formative years. I remember leaving with my new glasses and stopping in my tracks outside.
The trees had leaves.
Who knew?
Old frames are great dress ups!
I accidentally lost those horrible glasses within a month. I didn’t mean to, I just wasn’t accustomed to having to remember things that weren’t attached to me. My parents bought me nicer ones next time, and I learned my lesson. They still think I lost them on purpose though.
Fast forward to age 33 and I get a new pair of specs each year. Private health insurance pays a bit, I pay a lot extra to get thin lenses instead of coke bottles. It is worth it though, after 365 days of staring at these frames, cleaning the lenses, observing scratch after scratch appear, getting bent this way and that – I am so over this face. Time for a new one.
I have tried contact lenses, but they’re not right. Either I get really tall while wearing them, or the floor gets really far away. It’s like being in a high rise building and looking out the window – and then the window disappears. Not safe. I need my window.
What I don’t need on my window is fingerprints. I once saw a woman reach her finger slowly into the inside of her boyfriend’s glasses and scoop off an eyelash. The look on his face as he removed his glasses to clean them was priceless. You wouldn’t reach out and poke someone in the eye and call it helpful, would you?
My kids are still struggling with this lesson. Each morning when they want me to get out of bed, they know the fastest way is to pick up my glasses and give them to me. Or better yet, jump and prance on my bedside table right next to my glasses.
These are my eyes. I need them clean, I need them intact, and I need everyone to keep their grotty mitts off. You can have them when I get new ones.
Do you wear glasses? How old were you when you joined the club?
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Oh I had glasses and braces so I was totally awesome!
I need glasses now for computer work (so pretty much all day ;))
I used to wear them a lot more, but my stigmatize corrected itself (yay!) so now it’s just for reading which I don’t mind. Actually I kind of like it; it makes me feel very intellectual. :)
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I love my glasses, unfortunately so does Miss Lolly at the moment. She won’t keep her hands away from them so I spend half my day blind as its easier than constantly scolding her to not touch.
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I got glasses when I was 13. They were pig ugly. I started wearing contacts in my 20′s, but six months ago I returned to my glasses. You’ve reminded me that I need new ones :)
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You need 2 new pairs, just to be sure :)
Grrr…just lost my essay of a comment… Second time round…
My eyes started getting a bit dodgy when I was 19 – headaches and blurry when I was driving. So I got glasses even though I was only something ridiculous like -0.25 or -0.5… They weren’t too bad then but looking at photos now I think they look awful. Since then I’ve only had 2 other pairs, the last one since 2006 and my prescription hasn’t changed. I don’t mind my ones now but I secretly would love dozens of pairs – so they’d match my outfits or mood!
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I get new glasses even if my prescription doesn’t change (although it usually does yearly). They’re so cheap now, you may as well get a dozen pairs. Especially from the online places for easy prescriptions.
Mine are -5.0 and -4.75,and those special thin lenses cost at least $200 extra, so no dozen of pairs for me. Not until I’m a zillionaire, anyway!
I only got glasses last year… and I am still trying to get used to them. They feel weird. Like I’m watching tv. I argue that it’s not so bad to look at life through soft focus anyway ;) You write beautifully by the way.
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I was about 30 when I got my first pair of glasses. My sight isn’t too bad, but walking outside for the first time with my glasses on I was amazed at the definition of the leaves on the trees! It’s funny how you get used to a little bit of blur… so much so that you just don’t realise it is there, until it isn’t.
I can’t see faces so well and because I mostly only wear my glasses when driving, sometimes I don’t recognise people I know until they are almost under my nose. I swear some people must think I ignore them!
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I don’t but my hubby probably does. He keeps telling me how things are blurry from a distance but won’t see an optometrist. But then he gets a new driver’s licence without any issue so I think that’s enough justification for him to keep ignoring it. Men!
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Not only do i wear glasses but i’m an optical dispenser by trade so glasses are kind of my profession too! ( I’m one of those people you see when your finished wit your test, that helps you pick the frame and the lenses, does measurements and repairs blah blah blah).
I got my first pair when i was 6 years old and they were big, round, pink and horridly ugly. Blergh. Now that i work in the industry i’m lucky enough to get discounts and freebies from fram reps, so i currently have 4 pairs with my correct prescription ( plus 2 pairs of prescription sunnies ) and a drawer full of old ones!
Lol my dad wears his glasses filthy and I so do not know how he sees out of them. He wears them around his neck and and drops food and everything on them and I am forever cleaning them for him.
I wear reading glasses and they have to be spotless or I find they give me a headache.
My oldest son got glasses last year for reading too and I am praying he doesnt lose them at school as they are so darn expensive. So far so good! :)
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You are not going to believe it when I tell you that when I was 10 and got my first set of glasses, driving home, I literally said: “OMG, I can see the leaves!!!!” Trees had leaves! Bahahahaha!!!!! Roo does the same thing when she wants me awake and out of my bed – grabs my glasses and either tries to put them on for me, or runs away with them (The latter is obviously a fast track to mummy getting up)!
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I got mine at 19. I love my frames, would rather them than contacts any day.
Both of my girls wear glasses, one all the time, the other I have to nag constantly to put them on. Their first frames are way funkier than my first green wire-rimmed jobs.
I can’t stand anyone touching me near my face or trying to put my glasses on for me. Grrrr.
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