I can’t remember when it was that I got glasses. I know it was in the 5th grade. My eye doctor then was in Chicago. We took the El from Oak Park into the Loop. I guess it was easier and cheaper than trying to park down there. The eye doctor was this old guy, although every grown up was an ‘old guy/gal’ to me then. Super nice. I think he even did eye surgery on a Central American Dictator once. He was evidently top notch.

I remember when I actually got to put on my first pair of glasses and looked around the room, it was amazing. Until then, when I had gotten my eyes checked I could only read the letters on the chart clearly. And when I looked around the room I was clearly blown away, because the nurse just laughed and said she had never seen someone’s face light up like that. But everything was different, it was there now. It was sharp, and textured and detailed. Glasses changed everything. The world was better and more exciting and more interesting. I would never want to go back to not having glasses.

I think about that today because of another event that changed everything for me. 14 years ago I got married. Walking into to it I knew to would be a great thing, and my life would be better. But it was like that first pair of glasses. I never knew walking down that brick path at the Faculty House in Columbia South Carolina how much it would change everything. But it did. My life is better, more exciting and more interesting because of Ann. The quality of my life has improved a hundred times over. And I can only hope I have done the same to her. Happy Anniversary Ann.