So many times I’ve considered the concept. So many times I’ve deliberated if this was worth doing. After all, I only need glasses to drive … A few years ago, I asked my eye doctor whether I needed to wear my glasses all the time. And I remember my doctor’s response quite clearly: “Well, do you want to see all the time? ” Suffice it to say I didn’t find his response amusing-more like merely facing reality. When I was in tenth-grade chemistry class at YUHS/Central in Manhattan (I am dating myself since it moved to Queens some time ago), I was seated toward the rear of a lecture hall.
Before that time, my classes were generally small, and I always happened upon a front seat. I was one of those kids who enjoyed participating in class, and surely always enjoyed being right in the front of the room. So I guess until tenth grade I was able to compensate for not seeing too clearly. Somehow I would always pass the eye exams at my checkups; perhaps I had memorized the chart? When tenth grade came, and the teacher assigned me a seat in the rear of the room, I couldn’t compensate any longer. It was finally time to face facts: I needed glasses!
I remember the first time I put on glasses and was able to see things clearly that were very far away. I felt like Superman with X-ray vision. I was able to see things no normal person could see—or so I thought. After all, many people wore glasses; it wasn’t a new discovery! And so I would sneak my glasses on only when I wanted to use my special powers of vision. I didn’t need to use them to see ordinarily, just to see the out-of-the-ordinary things, like small writing on signs far away that no one else could possibly see without my special glasses.
I would forget my magical glasses quite often and then have to see just the ordinary. I decided I wouldn’t need to put on my glasses for trips to the movies, because I was never too far away from the screen. Of course life was challenging when I would go with my friends to Broadway shows during school breaks and end up seated further back in the theater. I wasn’t able to see the actors clearly and was shocked when others were able to recognize the actors from afar. And so I started to take my glasses with me more often—when I remembered to. I do remember when I went to get my driver’s permit.
After standing with my parents on the long line at the DMV, I realized that I had forgotten to take my birth certificate with me and couldn’t get the permit after all. The next time, I made sure that my birth certificate was safely in my bag, but lo and behold my glasses weren’t there. What a difficult state of affairs. I didn’t think my parents would be too happy to find out that we would have to make yet another trip! This was before the Department of Motor Vehicles conveniently had an office on Rockaway Turnpike, and we had to schlep to faraway Jamaica.
And so I explained my dilemma to the person at the counter who administered the eye test, and he was so nice. This was not the eye chart that I had mastered at my doctor’s office, so the man behind the counter “assisted” me, and I managed to get through the exam. And so I passed the driver’s permit eye exam without glasses! Of course, I assured the man that I would wear my glasses every time I drove, and frankly, at the time, my vision was probably passable without the assistance, but I will never forget that experience; from that time forward, the glasses took a permanent spot in my pocketbook!
I would only wear my glasses when I had my pocketbook with me—until that fateful day a few years later when the eye doctor declared that if I want to see I would need to wear my glasses all the time. This meant that on Shabbos, glasses were not part of my ensemble. Sometimes people who would greet me from afar thought I was ignoring them, but it was really because I couldn’t see them! So here I am. Waiting in the eye doctor’s office to take the next step. When I made the appointment, the receptionist remarked, “You have had contacts before, haven’t you? ” “No, I’ve never had them. ”
“Really? Then you will need training. ” Most people who get contacts do so when they are teenagers. Or maybe right before they get married. Here I am at the midpoint of my life and I have finally decided to take the plunge. I want that liberating experience that contacts have to offer. Basically, no more need to put glasses on to see! As I sit here in the doctor’s office, I am so excited to see what happens next. Will it be that same freeing feeling as the first time I put glasses on? Will I perpetually feel like Superman with his X-ray vision? “Contact” me in the weeks to come to see if | can see clearly! v
