Before my baby brother was born when I was almost 3 my mom used to take me to play school. I looked forward to going there twice a week because there were other kids to play with, and lots of different toys that I didn’t have at home. After Shaun was born I had to miss out on playschool for a while, but then my gramma started to take me to help my mom out and I was really happy that gramma was taking me. There were 2 other girls that went to playschool that I liked to play with. Camila was older than me by a couple of months and Sarah was almost a whole year older than me. Sarah wouldn’t play with me at first because she had other girls that were a bit older than she was to play with, however her birthday was in January which made her just young enough that the other girls went to kindergarten in September and left her behind. But now that I was 3 and Sarah was almost 4, I suppose I had matured enough that she, along with Mila became my friends. Sarah wore glasses. I don’t remember if she had always worn them for as long as I had known her, or if she got them before I knew who she was, but by the time we became close friends she wore them all the time. I was fascinated by Sarah’s glasses because my mom and dad also wore glasses and my mom had told me one time when I asked that since they both needed glasses I would probably end up wearing glasses as well. I had asked Sarah to let me try her glasses on a few times and she always let me. I was surprised that I could see quite well with Sarah’s glasses on and I asked Sarah why she wore them. She told me that when she didn’t have them on things that were on the other side of the room were really fuzzy but when she had her glasses on everything was clear. I didn’t understand that because without her glasses on I could see the other side of the room as well as I could with her glasses on. I liked the feeling of wearing Sarah’s glasses and I was pretty happy thinking that the day would come when I would have to wear glasses. Sarah was born at the end of January. Mila was born in April and I was born in early December of the same year. This meant that all 3 of us went to junior kindergarten at the same time, and then after our next year in kindergarten we went into grade 1 together. Sarah had gotten at least 2 new pairs of glasses since we had been in playschool and now I could not see very well through her lenses when I tried her glasses on. Now she didn’t want to take her glasses off to let me try them on anymore either. While we were in grade 1 Mila also got glasses and when mommy took me for an eye exam I was happy because I thought I would be able to get my own glasses. But the man in the white coat told me I didn’t need glasses so I was disappointed. I liked Mila’s glasses. Whenever she let me try them on I could see everything super clearly. She told me that she didn’t need to wear them all the time because her eyes only needed them to see far away things like the television and the chalkboard at school, but it was easier to just wear them all the time like Sarah did. I was jealous of Sarah and Mila and I wanted to wear glasses in the worst way. In grade 3 both Sarah and Mila got new glasses. Now Mila told me that she needed to wear her glasses all the time because her new prescription was twice as strong as her old one. And Sarah told us that her new prescription was -6D and it was twice as strong as Mila’s new prescription. But I still didn’t need to wear glasses according to the same eye doctor my mom took me to once again. By the time I was 8 and was in grade 4 I started to scheme about finding a way that would allow me to wear glasses. Mila had another eye exam and needed stronger glasses once again, so I bugged her until she finally consented to bring her original pair of glasses to school for me to wear. In the morning, when I sat down at my desk, I would open the case that held Mila’s old glasses and I would put them on. I would wear them for most of the day at school, and then before I went home I would put them in the case and I would take them home with me in my school bag. Sometimes at night after supper when I was in my room reading I would put the glasses on to read, but I was always afraid that mommy or daddy or my brother Shaun would come up the stairs and catch me wearing them. I wanted to wear them very badly, but I just couldn’t. And I had to be really careful around school, because Shaun was now in grade 1 so all I could do was to wear the glasses in class. After Christmas I told Mila that distant things were not quite as clear to me when I was wearing her original glasses and she volunteered to bring me in her next pair of glasses. I could tell that these glasses were stronger, but I could put them on and see very clearly after a couple of seconds of wearing them. I hated to take them off for recess, and I would often stay inside if I could so that I could leave them on. And if Shaun was not at school on a day that he was sick I was very happy and I would wear them all day until I went home. By the time summer holidays rolled around I could put Mila’s original glasses on and I really could see things better. Without them things on the other side of the room were a bit blurred. And I had a bit of trouble recognizing faces until the person got a little closer. I really hoped I could get my own pair of glasses before I went back to school in the fall, but I had no idea how I could convince mom I needed them. On the last day of school, when I got home I dumped out my schoolbag on my bed and left everything lying there – including the glasses case containing Mila’s original glasses. I had hidden her other pair in my dresser under a bunch of clothing. Mom came into my room and one of the first things she noticed was Mila’s glasses case. Of course she wanted to know what I was doing with a pair of glasses so I told her that they were Mila’s old ones and I could see a lot better when I was wearing them. Mom wanted to make me an appointment with the same eye doctor that had seen me before, but fortunately he had retired and I managed to convince mom that I wanted to see the same eye doctor that Sarah and Mila went to. They had told me that their doctor was really good and they both liked her. Mom did make an appointment and took me to the mall in the evening to have my eyes tested. I had gotten Mom to allow me to wear Mila’s original glasses to wear while watching television, and I put them in my pocket so I could tell the doctor that I had found that I could see perfectly when I was wearing them. One of the ladies took me into a room and sat me down in front of a machine. I asked her if I should put my glasses on before I looked into the machine and she said I shouldn’t but she wanted to see my glasses, so I took them from the case and gave them to her. She took them over to a thing that looked like a microscope and she looked through the microscope at both of the lenses. Then she had me look into the machine while the cow in the pasture went all blurry and then clear again. After that she took me into one of the little offices that had a big chair to sit in. I put my glasses on so that I could see around the office clearly and I waited for the doctor to come in. She was a very pretty lady and she had a nice sounding voice when she asked me to take my glasses off. She then asked me if I thought I needed new glasses and I told her that I thought I did, but I didn’t tell her yet that these glasses were not my glasses. Finally she was finished testing my eyes. Then she took me out to the waiting room and she talked to my mom for a couple of minutes. I could not hear all her conversation but I heard her say a few words like nearsighted and a little stronger so I knew I would be getting my own glasses. My mom didn’t say anything about the fact that the glasses I had been wearing were not my own. We went next door to the one hour optical store and I chose a frame for my new glasses that was, as close as I could remember, exactly the same as the other pair of Mila’s glasses that I had hidden in my drawer at home. Then mom and I went into the mall and did some shopping. It was nice to be able to wear Mila’s original glasses around the mall, because I had been finding that I could not see very well without them anymore. Mom bought me a couple of items of clothing, and she bought herself a new dress before we went back to pick up my glasses. When I put my own glasses on in the optical store I liked the way that everything looked really clear to me. The lady made some adjustments to fit the glasses around the back of my ears and when she was finished the new glasses were very comfortable. I was very happy to have my own glasses to wear. The thrill of having my own glasses soon wore off. I kept taking Mila’s other pair of old glasses out of my drawer and putting them on when I was in my room reading. I could tell that they were just a bit stronger than my own new glasses were, and I really liked the feeling I got when I was wearing them. It took a while, but finally I decided I was going to wear Mila’s old glasses all the time. I knew I would not get caught doing this because my new glasses were the exact same frame as Mila’s glasses were. For the rest of the summer I wore Mila’s old glasses. I even went back to the optical store and had one of the ladies make these glasses fit more comfortably around the back of my ears. My parents didn’t notice that the lenses in my glasses were a bit stronger and by the time I went back to school in September I actually needed Mila’s old glasses to see properly. I had seen Mila and Sarah a few times over the summer, and I even asked Mila if she was going to get new glasses before we went back to school, but she didn’t think she was. Sarah told me she was going to have her eyes examined and she would likely need new glasses before school started, but Sarah’s glasses were already so strong I knew I could never manage to wear her old ones until my eyes got a lot worse. I had been at her house a week or so ago, and Sarah had let me try on some of her old glasses. There was one pair I liked that I could easily see through the lenses, but I could never have worn them because the frame was a much different frame style than I was wearing and my parents would notice immediately. I wished that the frame that Sarah was currently wearing had those lenses in it, because Sarah, Mila and I all had the exact same frame. When we all came back to school a few weeks later I could tell that Sarah had gotten new lenses in her glasses because they looked a lot different. The front of her new lenses looked almost flat and the edges stuck out behind the frame a little more. When I asked her Sarah confirmed that she had indeed gotten new lenses placed in her old frames because she really liked the style and she liked the fact that all three of us wore the same frame. I asked Sarah what happened to her old lenses, and when she told me that she had them at home in a plastic bag I asked her if I could have them. I don’t know why I did that because I had tried her glasses with those lenses in them just a few weeks ago and I had to really make my eyes focus before I could see through them. Sarah brought me her old lenses. I had remembered that they were a -6D from what she told me when she first got them. I also knew that the old glasses of Mila’s that I had been wearing since early summer were -3D because Sarah’s glasses were twice as strong as Mila’s. I wasn’t sure how strong Mila’s glasses were now, but they were definitely a little stronger than the old ones of hers I was now wearing. I took the lenses Sarah had given me home and I popped the lenses out of my own glasses because the lenses Sarah had given me seemed to be the exact same size. I managed to put the right lens back in, but the left lens would not go in and I was afraid I might break the frame if I pushed too hard. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t wear the glasses at all with only one lens, and I was afraid of breaking something. I thought about my problem for a while and finally I came up with a solution. I would go to another optical store and I would offer to pay them if they could put my left lens back in my glasses because I really needed them badly. I wasn’t sure if I should wear Mila’s old glasses because Sarah’s lenses had the appearance of being a lot stronger. Then I remembered that I had tried on the pair of glasses that Sarah had worn before she had gotten the glasses with the lenses I wanted to have put in my frame. If Sarah would lend me them I could wear them into the optical store and it would be easier for them to believe my story that the lens had come out of my new glasses. I asked Sarah if I could borrow her purple framed glasses for a couple of days and she brought them to school for me the following morning. Because I wanted, to I wore those glasses all day in class and I also wore them in my room that night while I was reading. The next day I wore them in class all day again, and instead of going home right after school I took the bus to another mall that I knew had an optical store. I walked in, told the lady my story, and within 10 minutes I walked out of the store wearing Sarah’s old lenses in my own frame. It had really helped to have worn Sarah’s other glasses long enough to get used to the power because I had been able to put the -6D glasses on and was able to focus well enough to convince the lady who helped me that these were my own new glasses. I gave Sarah back the purple glasses, although I would really have liked to wear them because I seemed to be able to see very well through those lenses. I was afraid to wear the glasses with the -6D lenses around home because my mom would be able to tell that the lenses were stronger than her own glasses. My mom had a prescription of -4D, and my Dad had a prescription of around -5.50D so all they would have to do would be to try those -6D glasses on and they would know that something was wrong. But my parents were very busy people so I knew I would be able to wear the glasses with the -6D lenses quite a bit of the time. All I had to worry about was my brother Shaun noticing that my glasses looked different. I was surprised at how much of the time I actually was able to wear those glasses. Shaun didn’t seem to notice any difference, or if he did, he didn’t care. There were lots of days that I could wear the glasses with the -6D lenses from the time I got up in the morning until the time I went to bed at night and by my 10th birthday at the end of January I knew that Mila’s old glasses were no longer suitable for me to wear. Things looked all blurry when I wore them now, although the only time I ever wore them was when I went down to eat supper with my parents. I knew if I told mom my glasses were not strong enough anymore she would take me for an eye exam, and I could get new glasses. My problem was going to be getting my -2D lenses back into Mila’s frame, as I certainly didn’t want to put them into my own frame and take out the -6D lenses. I hoped I could still wear those glasses after I got my own new ones. I finally told mom my eyes had gotten worse, and she did make me an evening eye appointment. That day when I got home from school and was waiting for mom to come home to take me to see the eye doctor I pushed the lenses out of Mila’s glasses. I managed to put both of my own lenses back in Mila’s frame, and that night as we drove to the eye doctors office I really found things to be terribly blurred. I knew the doctor would find that my eyes had gotten a whole lot worse. He kept trying me with different lenses and I knew enough to let him make the lenses as strong as I could actually see through before I told him that I could see all the letters clearly on the line he was trying me on. When the letters started to look just a little less distinct I told him that and then he tried putting a red lens and a green lens in front of my eyes. I could actually see clearer through the green one, but I told him red was better. Finally he was finished and he went out to the main office to give my mom my new prescription. I was surprised, but pleased when I found out that my new glasses were now going to have to be -5.00D. I knew I wasn’t going to wear them much, because now I could wear the glasses with Sarah’s old lenses in them all the time. I told mom I didn’t want new frames, and my -5.00D lenses were placed in Mila’s old frames. The ride home was a lot better, as I could see everything clearly now. The difference in appearance between the glasses with the -5D lenses and the ones with the -6D lenses was almost imperceptible. I put the -5D ones away in a safe place and from that day on I wore the -6D glasses all the time. By the end of my year in grade 5 I had adapted to these glasses as well as I ever would and I knew that my chances of wearing stronger glasses would now depend upon my ability to force my eyes to get worse on their own. Both Mila and Sarah were complaining as the end of the school year approached that their glasses were no longer strong enough for them and I knew they would both be coming back to school in the fall with new glasses. I could probably convince Sarah to let me borrow her old glasses when she got new ones, but even though the frame style was the same, her lenses looked to be a lot stronger with their almost flat fronts and I likely would get caught by my parents if I tried wearing them. I saw a lot of Mila and Sarah over the summer holidays. Sarah’s mom wanted her to wait until just before school started to get her new glasses, but Mila had her eye exam right after school was out for the summer. Mila had quite an increase. She went from-4.50D up to -6.75D and she was thrilled to have her new glasses. For the rest of the summer Mila and I were Sarah’s eyes, because Sarah really couldn’t see very well. I had gotten Mila to trade glasses and to let me wear her new glasses a few times and they were great. They were easy for me to wear and I could easily see things that I was having a hard time seeing with Sarah’s old -6D lenses. And even though Sarah’s glasses were even stronger now I could see very well through them. She didn’t want to take them off to let me wear them though, because her vision was even worse when she wore my glasses with her old -6D lenses. Finally Sarah’s mom took her to have her eyes examined and when I saw Sarah wearing her new glasses I loved the looks of them. Now the fronts were completely flat. Sarah had chosen a frame with a little larger lens opening size, and the lenses were sticking out behind the frame by a very noticeable amount. They looked pretty thick to me, and I could hardly wait until my eyes would allow me to wear lenses that looked as thick as Sarah’s. I told Sarah that, and she looked at me as if I was crazy. Apparently Sarah didn’t think that her thick lenses looked very good and she would have loved to be still wearing thinner lenses. It took me a while before I got up the courage to ask Sarah if I could borrow her other glasses. Sarah knew I had put her old -6D lenses in my own frame, and that I had been wearing them for about a year. She asked me if my eyes had gotten worse, and I told her that I wasn’t sure, but I thought that her old -6D lenses were no longer strong enough for me. When she asked me why I just didn’t tell my parents and have them take me to have my eyes tested again I wasn’t sure what to tell her. Certainly, if my mom thought I needed new glasses she would have taken me back to see the eye doctor. Finally I told Sarah that I wanted stronger glasses and I thought that if I could wear her old glasses my eyes would get worse faster. Sarah didn’t say much, but the following day she brought her old glasses in and gave them to me. The only thing she said was that if she broke her glasses I would have to give them back to her to wear until she could get a new pair. I agreed that I would do that. I think my eyes must have gotten worse on their own because in October when I switched from wearing Sarah’s old -6D lenses to her glasses with the -7.50D lenses I found it very easy to wear them. I tried on Sarah’s new -9.00D glasses a couple of times and I was surprised at how easily my eyes adapted to being able to focus through the strong lenses. I started scheming to get myself a pair of glasses with -9.00D lenses, although I knew it would be next to impossible. My parents thought my eyes still needed the -5.00D lenses that I had been prescribed only last February. I wore Sarah’s -7.50D glasses most of the time. Mom was always in a hurry to leave the house in the morning and Shaun and I were always rushed out the door. She barely even looked at either of us as we walked down the street to board the school bus, so I had gotten into the habit of wearing the -7.50D glasses from the time I woke up until the time we left the afternoon baby sitter’s place. Most afternoons Dad would be home, but he was generally in the office on his computer downstairs, so I would go up to my room to do my homework. It was a juggling act to not get caught, but I managed to wear the -7.50 glasses a lot more of the time than I had hoped I could and I was quite pleased with the results. I no longer could see very well with the old -6D glasses and if I tried wearing the -5D glasses I had been prescribed my vision was terrible. I could wear Sarah’s new glasses quite easily, and when I had them on, which of course was only for a few minutes because Sarah wouldn’t let me take them from her for any longer than just a short time, my vision was fantastic. My vision with the -7.50D lenses wasn’t that bad, but I felt I really couldn’t see that well. Finally, when the time came for my 11th birthday when mom asked me what I wanted as a present I told her I wanted new glasses. I went in to the doctor’s office wearing my old -5.00D glasses and came out with a prescription of -8.25D as well as a lecture for waiting too long to get new glasses. This time my doctor was a lady, and even though I told her that I had only started to notice that my eyes were going bad again just before Christmas she was rather upset with me for not coming in sooner. She had quite a long discussion with my mom, and I could sort of overhear what she was telling mom. It surprised me that she was suggesting to mom that possibly I should have my prescription increased slightly so that my eyes would have to work a bit harder and if I got stronger glasses now I might be able to go a little longer before I needed another new prescription. She asked mom if I was going to get my new glasses made at the optical store attached to the doctor’s office and when mom told her that we were she went to the computer and made some changes. Then she printed out a new prescription to give to mom, and she ripped up the old one. Mom and I went next door to get my new glasses. I was wearing the -5.00D ones and I really couldn’t see well enough to pick out a new frame for my glasses, but mom and the lady at the optical store chose a frame that they thought looked very nice on me. The lady took a picture and put it on the computer for me to look at and I liked my appearance wearing the frames. Mom wanted to do some shopping, but I didn’t feel like walking around the mall without being able to see anything, so I told mom I would rather just wait for my glasses to be ready and I sat in a chair, unable to do much of anything with those old -5D glasses on. Finally they called my name and I could see a lady standing near one of the fitting tables with a tray in her hand. I went over and sat down, and she took my new glasses out of the tray. She set them on the table upside down and checked to make sure the earpieces both were flat on the table. Then she had me take off the -5D glasses and I put on the new ones. After wearing Sarah’s old -7.50D glasses I knew that -8.25D would be a little bit stronger, but when I put the new glasses on it was like my world got brighter and sharper. I could feel my eyes focusing through the lenses, but it was great. I looked around the optical store and it was wonderful to be able to see the racks of new frames displayed on the walls clearly. The optician felt around the back of my ears and she asked me if I liked wearing my glasses loose, or tight to my face, and I told her I hated it when my glasses slipped down. She then took them off and dipped the ends of the earpieces in a dish of what looked to be hot sand. Then she bent them a bit and when she put them back on my new glasses seemed to fit much tighter to my face, but I sort of liked that feeling. I did notice that my glasses now looked to be pretty thick, and the outer edges of my face were shrunk in by the lenses of my glasses. I liked that look a lot. I took my fingers and felt the edges of my glasses right at the bottom corner and I could feel that they actually were really thick. The optician had suggested that I should choose a smaller frame size than what I wanted, and when I told her I wanted the same size I had tried on in the picture she took she suggested that my mom should pay extra for a thinner lens. But I didn’t want thinner lenses so I told mom I was Ok with the fact that my lenses might be pretty thick. The lady gave me the paperwork and I went to sit and wait for mom When mom came back to get me I had been wearing my new glasses for about 15 minutes. I had taken them off and looked at them a couple of times, and I liked everything about them, thick lenses and all. I had also looked at the paperwork, and I was surprised to see that the -8.25D that the eye doctor had written on the first piece of paper now read that my lenses were exactly -9.00D and that was the same prescription that Sarah had in her glasses. But after having worn them for a little while I could tell that they felt perfect to me. Mom took a look at me wearing them, and she simply said that the optician was right, my glasses would look fairly thick. On the way home she told me that she was sorry that I had inherited her and my dad’s bad eyesight. I simply told her that I didn’t mind wearing glasses, so I wasn’t upset about that. It had taken about 5 years, but now I had my first pair of glasses that were really mine to wear. The other 2 pairs I had been prescribed were glasses that I never wore, and I never considered the glasses I got from Mila and Sarah to be mine. These were finally my own first glasses. Specs4ever Nov 2016.