My New Eyes

Something big happened last week, and I'm not just talking about the fact that I was rejected from two schools for doctoral education and several other schools are supposed to be having interviews in mid-February and must have lost my phone number as they were busy calling all of the other qualified applicants. Nope, that's now what I'm talking about. In my hopes of seeing the future (what one may call existential sight), I focused last week on seeing the present (or physical sight). That's right: I got contacts.

I'm 25 and have worn classes for just about as long as I can remember. My three older siblings all wore glasses. Well, my sister, determined as an adolescent to not let some wire rims take away from her good looks, chose to forego her glasses (and, at times, her grades) in order to stay both fashionable and foxy. Well, I could never be fashionable or foxy, so glasses it was. Until now.

There were times, of course, that I wanted to get contacts before, but when it comes to putting up one's money for eye-wear, it just seems that there are so many other options that bring much more immediate reward and pleasure (ever the hedonist, huh?). I began to talk about contacts a few years ago, and the momentum has been building to this moment. Needless to say, it's an adjustment, and for the first few days I was in a foggy, unfocused gaze. On top of that, I couldn't wake up. Having worn glasses for so long, it just makes sense that the only times I don't wear my glasses are when I'm either getting up from bed or getting ready for bed--times when I'm tired. So to be awake is to have glasses and to be tired is to have none. I got the contacts last Wednesday afternoon and my Wednesday evenings are spent doing family therapy. During my last session, not late by my normal standards, I simply could not stop yawning. I felt horrible, like a fool of a therapist, but what could I do? I thought about explaining to my clients that it was the contacts putting me to sleep, not their stories, but thought they wouldn't find that very empathetic or comforting. I simply ended the session a little early and told them they were beyond help. Okay, that's not completely true, but that's besides the point.

Since Wednesday, I'm getting used to my glasses and have stopped trying to adjust the glasses on my nose that aren't there. In fact, Joy and I spent our Presidents' Day yesterday skiing in Wisconsin, and it was glorious. Previously, I would do all hiking, skiing, and kayaking in glasses, which is simply obnoxious. I just can't wait for the first day where it's pouring rain outside and I don't have to worry about wiping my glasses off after I am inside. That will be the day. Now if only I could get some help with my existential sight, and we'd be all set.