Glasses

I didn't grow up with a lot of extras. Purchases were made on a "pressing need" basis; never on a "want" basis. Things would have to break down or fall apart before they were replaced. I'm not really sorry for that or anything, but it's interesting how growing up like that shaped some weird financial habits for me. I, with generous help from Ell, was a pretty heavy spender for many years. But it was never on stuff that I needed, rather what I wanted. All those repressed years of doing without I guess. Anyway, despite the fact that I've matured and grown out of the rampant spending of my young adulthood, I still cling to the "pressing need" purchase mentality. To this day I only own 2 pairs of jeans. One for cutting wood/gardening, and one for going out. And the going out pair actually has a hole in the seat. And I probably won't get another pair until the hole is just too big to be modest.

Now that you know a little how my brain works, here's my story. I've worn glasses since I was eight. I wouldn't get a new pair until the old ones broke and my Mom could save up enough money to pay for an eye exam and a new pair. So yes, I had the tape-in-the-middle geeky glasses many times. When Ell and I got married, she tried to break me of my "pressing need" spending in regards to my glasses with little success. So I've had the same pair of glasses since 2003. Horribly scratched up lenses, a hazy right lens, and replaced nose pieces from a dollar pair of drugstore reading glasses. Not broke, so why replace, right? Friday, two days ago, I finally decided to honor Ell's wishes and get a new pair of glasses. They weren't broke, but it couldn't hurt to get a new pair anyway. Saturday morning, yesterday, I worked in my garden for a couple hours. Midday, I went inside to do some reading. While I was sitting at the kitchen table, my glasses broke. The arm came right off. All I could do was laugh at the irony.

I called the Boardman Lenscrafters and they were only open until 5:00, with the last order being taken at 4:00. Ell wouldn't be home until around 4, so I called the Warren one which turned out to be open until 7:00. Boardman would be open at noon on Sunday, and Warren's a good fifty minutes from our house, but I really needed the glasses. So when she got home we headed to Warren. I spent about twenty minutes and found a really nice pair. Very sophisticated and stylish. Very banker. The lady tries to talk me out of them b/c of how bad my eyes are and how thick the lenses will be, but I insist. People know I wear glasses, like I care if they know how bad I really need them. So she measures my eyes and my head. She measures my pupils and sizes the frames. Then we discuss the lenses and I pick the best lenses for staring at a computer all day. All that is finished and she informs me they don't have the lenses in stock. It'll be 7-10 days before my glasses are ready. Who's laughing at irony now?

So I left a little annoyed and with broken duct-taped glasses. What am I, twelve again? We did get to eat at--------- Kim hold your ears --------------, Chipotle, which was abso-freaking-lutely awesome as usual. So anyway, noon in Boardman doesn't sound so bad right now. Oh well, whatya gonna do?