Leaves on the Trees

I remember in 3rd Grade at Sacajawea Elementary School when Mr. Kimura told me he thought I needed glasses. I remember the absolute insulting embarrassment of that conversation. How dare he suggest that I need glasses?! How embarrassing that he noticed I couldn't see the board. Somehow my mother discovered I needed glasses, too, and a few weeks later I walked out of the optometrist's office in my first pair of eyeglasses. I remember clearly the drive home. I exclaimed to my mother in amazement my ability to see each of the leaves on the trees - so clearly, so distinctly. I had no idea what I had been missing in the world. Everything was clear and crisp and beautiful to me. The traffic signs, my mother's eyelashes, and much more. But most of all, I remember the leaves.

Tyler received his first pair of eyeglasses a few days ago. When his teacher Mrs. Foster suggested an eye exam I could feel Tyler's outrage and fear. I knew it firsthand. We picked up the glasses on Monday and drove home. Just the two of us. I shared with him my first experience in my glasses. I told him about the trees and the leaves. On the drive home he excitedly described to me all the wonders of the world he could now see in such fantastic clarity. It was a moment to cherish and I gratefully shared it with him. I wonder if he'll remember that drive home as I have remembered mine from so long ago. I hope so.

"The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes ... but in having new eyes."
~Marcel Proust