Hey Four Eyes!

David

Jun 25

If you wear glasses, depending on what age you were when you first got them, you may have had this derogatory term thrown at you. I know I have although I don't recall what age I was when I first heard it. But someone definitely said "hey four eyes" or "look at four eyes" to me at an early age.

Considering that my mom and dad both wore glasses as well as my two older sisters, it is somehow surprising to me that I had not had my eyes examined prior to starting first grade.

I made it through that first school year without any. Maybe my eyes had not been that bad at that age or maybe I sat up front in the classroom and so could see what the teacher wrote on the caulk board. But that all changed in the second grade.

Sometime during the school year, my second-grade teacher, as I recall Mrs. Robin or Mrs. Robins, either sent a note home or called my mom to say that I was having trouble in school. I don't know what all was said but she asked at one point if I had had my eyes examined to see if I needed glasses. Well, whether or not I had previously, I soon was at the eye doctor one day after school. And sure enough, I needed glasses. And I have worn glasses ever since.

Some of you who wear glasses may choose to make a fashion statement with them. Certainly, we are familiar with many famous actors or actresses who have made this choice. I once had a work colleague for whom this was certainly the case. She had a very eclectic collection of glasses, and you never knew day to day what she might be wearing. For me, I have simply chosen frames from whatever style was in fashion at the time.

My first pair of glasses were these plastic frames in a subtle shade of blue or grey since it is hard to tell from this black and white photo.

A year later, I had a different pair but still similar in style. Maybe my eyes were changing rapidly at this early age such that I needed a new pair so soon. I suspect sometime between this first pair and the second pair was when that derogatory term was hurled at me. Obviously, it had nothing to do with the style, but just the novelty of wearing them to someone who did not.

I kept this style of glasses all the way through junior high school (9^th grade in those days).

This is my school photo from that fall. Not long before this photo was taken, I broke my glasses, probably not for the first time. If you look closely, you can see a blob of glue on the top of the nose bridge. Apparently, there wasn't enough time to get new glasses before school picture day.

Sometime in high school, I changed frame styles…

…but once in college, I probably had what I would consider my most outlandish style. I do not know what I was thinking at the time, but I must have thought I looked really cool in these clear plastic frames.

Sometime before I graduated, I changed to some that were a bit less garish although they were still quite large frames. Of course, this was the era of wide ties so big frames must have been in vogue as well.

I switched to wire rim frames sometime in the early 1990s. I had several different pairs of these, but I recall they were never as comfortable to wear as the old plastic frames I had worn previously.

Sometime before I turned 40, my wife encouraged me to explore getting contact lenses. I had never been fond of the idea of every morning sticking something in my eye and so had never pursued them. But I did ask my eye doctor during my next checkup. He asked if I had ever worn them to which I replied "no." He then said, that given my age, I would be needing bifocal glasses very soon and while there were bifocal contacts available, it would likely be very hard for me to adjust to them. I took this as validation that I did not need them.

In 2008, I returned to plastic frames when I found this pair of glasses. They were by far the most comfortable pair of glasses I had ever worn. And not only were they comfortable, but I thought they looked the best on me of any pair I had ever worn.

I was at first shocked at how expensive they were but given that each pair is handmade in Germany, it is understandable. Since that first pair, I have purchased several more as my vision and need for bifocal has changed. I am so happy with the way they look on me, I don't know that I will ever switch styles again. In fact, in the 14 years since then, I have purchased five pairs.

After retiring in 2017, I switched eye doctors and so no longer was able to get the same frames through his inhouse dispensary. But since these are of such high quality, there really is no need to replace them. I currently have three pair, each with a slightly different prescription. Each time my prescription changes, I take in one of the existing frames I have and put the new prescription in them and start to wear those, setting aside the previously worn frames for the next prescription change.

I also have had a number of different styles of prescription sunglasses over the years. But the most recent ones that I have purchased, I again feel that I have settled on another style that I will never deviate from. As with my regular glasses, I feel these also look the best on me of all the ones I have had previously.