I Can See All Obstacles In My Way

I got a new pair of glasses yesterday.

I mentioned yesterday that my glasses broke as I was driving to work on Monday morning. I had taped them back together twice, but I wasn't very happy about it. For one thing, I knew it wouldn't hold together very long like that, and beyond that, I just didn't want to walk around with taped-up glasses for very long. I'm the last person in the world to worry about appearances, but it is fairly tacky, and I do work in an office where I have to uphold at least a modicum of professionality.

So, after work yesterday, I bypassed my workout and instead drove up to the mall, where there's a LensCrafters. I was hopeful that I could get in for an eye exam so I could get a new pair of glasses before I went home. I wasn't sure if I could just walk in or if I would need to have an appointment, but I gave it a try. I got lucky--they weren't busy at all, and I only had to sit in the waiting room for about five minutes before my examination.

Of course, I wasn't totally thrilled about having to have an eye exam in the first place. I could still see very well with my old glasses, and I really just wanted a new pair. Unfortunately, my prescription had expired, so they couldn't make a new pair without a new prescription. At least the exam went quickly, because the old prescription was still good. The doctor did make some minor tweaks, but I think the whole process took about ten minutes.

From there I went out to pick out my new glasses. That didn't take very long either. I liked the glasses I had just broken, so I just found a few pairs that were pretty similar and then picked out the pair I liked the best.

Of course, a new pair of glasses means that I'm spending today getting used to them. The prescription tweaks were minor, but it still makes everything look like it's too close. I always feel shorter after I get a new pair of glasses, because I have a tendency to talk with my head (or at least my eyes) tilted downward, and the ground always looks too close.

I'm really hopeful that I can wear these glasses for a good long time without them experiencing any mishaps. The last two pairs of glasses I've had have not been so lucky. This last pair broke at an inopportune moment after being severely weakened when I slept with them on. Of course, I sleep in my glasses fairly often--the initial structural damage was done to them much earlier in their lifespan, during a playful wrestling match with Brandi. The pair before that was almost exploded when I took a softball to the face when I tried to play catch with a friend, using a glove that was not my own. The ball bounced off the edge of the glove and hit me right on the bridge of my nose, knocking off my glasses and severely bending them, and blacking both of my eyes a little bit. Of course, this happened the day before my college graduation--if you look closely at my graduation photo, you can see my wounds. Fortunately, I was able to bend my glasses back into a semblance of their former shape, and although they were never quite the same after that, I continued to wear them for quite some time.

I hope these can last just as long, but I would prefer if I didn't have any more stories like these when it finally comes time to replace them.