I think that there is something wrong with my new glasses.
I look much older in them than I did in my old ones.
It can’t be that my old glasses were weak. It must be that my new ones are too strong, that they are magnifying everything! Sure, I can see better. But what I’m seeing also includes my face which is three years older than the last time I got glasses.
The good Costco optometrist told me that my new prescription is three clicks stronger than my old one.
Three clicks apparently make a difference.
My face had changed in ways I couldn’t easily see before.
I noticed it right after I put them on, the first time I looked in a mirror. What was that red spot on my chin? What were those pores? And wrinkles! Oh, the wrinkles!
I was confused at first. Had something happened to my face?
It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on.
I got older. My new glasses just helped me see it.
It’s a gift, I know, to mature. Nothing to complain about. “Better than the alternative,” as my Mom always used to say.
I guess I had been wandering through the world these last years with eyes that were not as sharp as they used to be. One of the benefits of that, apparently? Not seeing my aging face with crystal clear precision. In my old glasses, the world seemed softer, less harsh. I guess I did, too.
It’s good to have new glasses, though.
(There’s nothing wrong with them after all.)
It’s a gift to have the resources to get new glasses, a gift to walk through the world and see things more clearly.
Even myself. Wrinkles and all.
1 Comment
Your story about your glasses made me laugh! I sometimes want to dim the lights in the bathroom to get that soft-light effect and to see less imperfections when looking at myself in the mirror … alas, as you say, it’s better than the alternative 🙂