Grasshopper Gets Glasses

We see very largely with the mind, and only partly with the eyes.
-William H. Bates

This is Grasshopper. Isn't he a handsome boy! Not too long ago he began complaining of not being able to see very well. I really hoped he just wanted to fit in with the rest of our little family. Mr. Bug began wearing glasses in the 4^th grade and has been 20/600 (blind as a bat) since about the 8^th grade. Grasshopper just finished up the 4^th grade. I started wearing glasses in the 8^th grade, and though my vision isn't horrible, it is worse at every check-up and I have a such a strong astigmatism that I can't get 20/20 vision with glasses. And LadyBug started wearing glasses the spring before she went in to Kindergarten. Unlike the rest of us, though, she's farsighted.

When Grasshopper started complaining over breakfast that he couldn't see the clock from across the kitchen, I decided that I'd ignore it and hope that the problem went away. I really didn't want him to experience the joys of wearing glasses. But he failed an eye test at school, so we took him to the eye doctor and he prescribed glasses for Grasshopper. I suppose it was inevitable, given that his sister, both his parents and all four of his grandparents wear glasses.

Grasshopper had a great time picking out his frames. He was pretty excited about wearing them. He carried around his glasses case in his pocket for about a week, just in case he needed to take his glasses off at recess or while playing at a friend's house. And then the novelty started to wear off. They got bumped and bent out of shape and the glasses started to wear sore spots. He forgot to put them on. And they became more of a hassle than the fun he thought they would be.

I can totally relate.