Glasses

For those of you who have 20/20 vision, you won’t understand my grievances. I’ve had glasses since the 2^nd grade. Now, 14 years later if I’m not already legally blind, I’m certainly edging blindness. There is no winning with impaired vision; if I’m not sleeping in my contacts, I’m breaking or losing my glasses. The lenses are so thick they warp my face and make my eyes and sides of my head much smaller than they really are—which is why I prefer contacts.

When I first started losing my vision, my 7-year-old self was in denial. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t read the date on the board anymore but accepted my new reality without question. Then the nurse came in one day and started pulling students to do a vision test. While I waited for the people ahead of me to finish, I noticed I couldn’t see the lines of letters and started memorizing what the other students were saying so I wouldn’t “fail the test.” Obviously, I was unsuccessful. My mom didn’t believe that I could ever do poorly in school—despite my attempts to tell her that I failed something—until she got a call from the nurse confirming I couldn’t see. I picked out my first pair of glasses myself, which was a mistake. They were white and pink ombre with rhinestones lining the outer squiggly edge of the frames.

Now, making my return to glasses, I have a brown oversized pair that fogs up too easily and distorts my already weak depth perception. Though I will admit, they do make me look nerdy and cool as hell. But there’s just one last thing and then I swear to god I’ll shut up about this forever, at least I don’t have to be one of those posers that wears fake glasses; I desperately need them.