When I was fourteen, I saw the eye doctor and got what to a teenager is not welcome news. I was told I had an astigmatism and would need eyeglasses. This may not seem like a big deal now that we are grown adults but to add glasses to the growing pains and body changes that comes with puberty is not an exciting development. Now when I was told I would need glasses, the only option for glasses that was readily available was the selection the eye doctor maintained. Trusting something that could have a fashionable or not so fashionable twist to the tastes of a doctor that may have been alive when the dinosaurs roamed was not an encouraging prospect. I ended up settling for a pair of gold rimmed glasses. It was the early to mid 80's so I hopped they could be part of the "preppy" look that so many were sporting. Even though I think I did a manageable job at pulling off the glasses, I had lost them within a week and disguised that fact for months!

Today eyeglasses have become a fashion accessory akin to ties and briefcases. To my utter amazement people buy non-prescription glasses for that very reason. If the selection had been anything like what is available today, I might have gotten a more stylish pair and actually wear them today. Instead I have never replaced those lost glasses. If I decide at some point to get a new pair at least I know I have options beyond what the dinosaur doctor of yore had!