Glasses

Life seems so much easier when you cannot see. The world feels a little bit more manageable when your problems are out of sight, especially when you are young and naïve, but who says that seeing can’t, if not already, become a good thing? That being confronted with your issues cannot become the answer to solving them? I do not know, but I say that seeing is a gift, both figuratively and literally, and sight is given to those who accept it, not to those who can simply see a couple of letters a few feet in front of them.

I got my first pair of glasses in the first grade, and from what I remember I loved them dearly. They had small round lenses and a transparent frame that held an array of translucent colors, perfect for a six year girl, and my first day back at school with them was definitely exciting. Thinking back, I remember asking myself, “Will my friends like them? What will my teachers think?” Everyone shared my excitement, so that was pretty awesome. “Wow!” I told myself silently. That was the first time I became known as, “the girl with glasses.”

​I did not stay at that school very long, and as a matter of fact, I did not stay at any school that I went to for more than two years. My parents tell me that my ability to make friends so easily is because of how often we moved, but I think that it had to do with my glasses. Every two years I got a new pair of glasses, just like how every two years I went to a new school because my dad’s job required us to move a lot. This means that everywhere I went I felt at home because at all of my schools my title often remained as, “the girl with glasses.” A funny thing yes, but because I always had glasses where ever I went I always felt comfortable, therefore I have always given off an easy vibe. My glasses gave me a sense of comfort, and it made other people feel comfortable too, so I made friends at the blink of an eye. My title did not even bother me.

​It is more than safe to say that my glasses gave me my identity, and they made me who I am today. I find comfort in the fact that my glasses are a part of who I am because they are in every memory that I have up until last year. Now I do not need them as often, but whenever I feel uncomfortable I wear them just as a reminder that sight remains as a gift, and my glasses gave me the gift to see my true identity, not just as, “the girl with glasses,” but as Paulie Jo Gonzalez, “the girl who is not afraid to see and live life in different facets.”