I remember the night well. It was a warm evening in Millet and I went for a walk with some friends to honor the final day before I was equipped with glasses. As a Junior High student in a small school I thought I was doomed by wearing glasses. They took a long time to become comfortable with them but after a while they were natural and felt they were always there.
I bent my first set of frames more than I can remember. It seemed that glasses had the magical presence to attract a soccer ball, volleyball or basketball to the face. This would usually lead to a bend in the bridge, warping the nose piece or damaging the arm. I became quite adept at fixing glasses on the go, and to my surprise they never broke.
Contacts came in High School and it was an experience to be liberated from the glasses but they did not come without consequence. My eyes were dry, a little red, and never completely comfortable with them in. I used them gladly over glasses when it came to playing a sport that involved a helmet.
Years passed and glasses became a way of life, just something I had to take care of every day. The dry weather of Alberta forced me to rely on glasses more than contacts. When it came time to buy new frames I discovered the goldmine of buying frames/lenses from online stores. I enjoyed fashion and diversity at a cost of $10 to $30 for new frames compared to insanely priced $200+ ones at Lenscrafters or other locations.
All of this will be a distant memory after today as I have laser corrective surgery done on my eyes. I have thought about laser eye surgery for years. It was always some notion in the back of my head and in May I decided it was time to investigate for myself and see what my options were. Things moved at a faster rate than I expected and the week following my initial consultation with the doctor I selected I was booked for the surgery.
I opted for Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and my healing process will put me out of commission for a few days. I will try and document the next few days as best I can but I am not expecting much computer use in that time so we will see what happens.
Always one for tradition, I made sure that the final night, and morning, before my surgery was memorable. I played hockey with the Ice Dragons netting a goal and an assist (sadly in a loss). Then in the morning I awoke before the sun in the morning and watched its rise on the deck with a cup of coffee, my thoughts, birds chirping and the sound of commuters going to work early.
I guess I will see you around Internet, stay classy.
