In Focus

One of those "branded in my brain" memories is when, at age 5, I walked out of Logan's Standard Optical with my brand-new glasses. They were blue plastic, which my father fondly told me brought out the blue of my eyes. Dad, I've seen my school pictures...yikes! Oh well, I wore them with all the confidence of a 5 year-old who believed she looked pretty because her daddy told her so. But I digress, back to my story. I walked out of the store, took a look around me and exclaimed in surprise that there were trees on the mountains! Who knew? Prior to that point in my life, mountains had been big brown blobs. What a surprise to find they had definition and rocks and bushes and trees.

Grace came home with a note a few weeks ago...it was from the school nurse. She'd failed her eye exam. Sigh! I called a gal in my ward whose little guy wears glasses, hoping to get a referral for a local doctor, but alas! She takes him to see a specialist in Salt Lake City, no luck there. I looked up our provider list, randomly picked a name, and called but got the answering machine. I don't like business answering machines - I figure if they want my business they should answer the phones...I'm picky like that. Anyhoo, I chose again and this time hit the jackpot. Not only did they answer, the doctor turned out to be a great guy who totally put Grace at ease and made the whole process fun (minus the dilating eye drops which Grace hated and which made her declare between sobs that she wanted to go home!). My little gal did not want glasses, she said they were bad for her eyes, but Dr. Jensen (who wisely asked what her favorite color was) took us out to the kids eyewear section where everything was at child-level and presented her with a pair of pink glasses to try on. It was all over from there. We tried on about five pair before she settled on one and from then on she couldn't be budged. And I did try to budge her because I had a sinking feeling that she'd picked the most expensive pair in the store, but, as Chad noted, if it means she'll wear them then it's worth it. And wear them she does; Grace has been a very conscientious eyeglasses owner. Plus, I got that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from doing right by one's child when we walked out of the store and she declared, "I see trees! I see bushes!" Not too bad, and (taking a leaf out of my father's book) I tell her that she looks beautiful in her glasses, and she does.