I have poor vision.

I first got glasses to read the blackboard at school when I was in second grade. By the time I was 10, I needed to wear them all the time. My prescription got stronger and stronger through my junior-high years (because it wasn’t middle school way back then), and the technology to make thinner lenses wasn’t around yet. Or perhaps it was but cost more money than my parents were willing to spend on their growing child’s glasses.  I remember being given a limited selection of frames that could handle my coke-bottle lenses.

Glasses in the 80s were awful. And so was my hair in that time. Add braces, and my “awkward years” truly were terrible!

When I was 15, I was finally allowed to get contacts. Ever since then,  I have rarely worn glasses. Maybe sometimes on lazy weekends at home, but it doesn’t happen too often.

Just after Christmas at my annual eye appointment, my doctor noticed some irritation in my left eye. When I looked it barely seemed red, but apparently under the microscope it looked bad. Something that could become much worse.

She told me I couldn’t wear my contacts for a week. Yikes!

I fortunately got new glasses last year, and my prescription hadn’t changed.  But I really wasn’t used to wearing them. Since most people I know have only ever seen me in contacts, they don’t even know I need vision correction. So everyone I see asks about the glasses!

It’s also quite annoying to run with glasses. They fog up! Sure I’m used to wearing sunglasses … but you don’t become blind when you remove them to clean the lenses!

At my follow-up appointment this week, she told me it was OK to wear my contacts again. But after only two days, I noticed it was looking red again.  Back to glasses.

I have another appointment next week that’s supposed to be a contact lens fitting, but there’s probably a good chance it will become a medical visit instead …

So for now, this is me.