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Thursday
Jul022009
The better to see you with, my dear
Breaking news: Miss Maddy needs glasses.
She's had trouble reading the board at school and some difficulty reading music when she's playing the violin. I've been putting her off, thinking it was not a big deal. Apparently, no, she wasn't faking. (Oh yeah, I forgot. That was me when I was her age. Man, I desperately wanted glasses back then for some reason.) The eye doctor said her near-sightedness will get progressively worse until she's about 19. At least that's what I heard and noted.
Here's what Maddy heard:
Your eyes will get worse and worse until you're blind at age 19.
We straightened that out in the car, where she was remarkably calm when she commented "that's so weird that I'll be blind by the time I'm 19." I would have been weeping and wailing and gnashing teeth. "Why?! Why?! How will I live without reading or seeing movies or seeing my future babies' faces? I have only six years to see! I need to take up the piano and learn to sing! Can I call my friends and tell them the dramatic news and get lots of sympathy?"
Not Maddy. She took it in stride, filed it away, and off-handedly commented about it 20 minutes later.
Does it seem unfair to anyone else that age 13 is typically accompanied by a whole slew of corrective implements, just when your self esteem and awareness are at their most fragile? Headgear, check. Retainer, check. Braces, on deck. Glasses, coming right up. Luckily she wears them well and takes it all in stride.
07.2.2009
Reader Comments (9)
I think I'd trade that for the downhill slope that I've noticed here at 35. Eyes? Going again. Teeth? Need whitening. Freckles? Still breeding. Rear end? Fatter by the minute.
Give me blindness, I tell you.
I've wanted glasses since I was 10. I have drug store "readers" which I guess will suffice.
envious in lex.
oh her response is hilarious and dear! i have/had a whole slew of corrective supplies--braces, retainers, glasses, contacts, orthotics, bridges, trays...i'm nearly a full package:)
I heart Maddy. :)
re:
"Does it seem unfair to anyone else that age 13 is typically accompanied by a whole slew of corrective implements, just when your self esteem and awareness are at their most fragile?"
YES. Resoundingly.
Contact lenses, check!
That will be next. I was surprised how easily Jessica took to wearing them. She much prefers them to her glasses. Glad you were able to put Maddy straight about her eye sight!
Lindsay
Maddy will look gorgeous.
She will.
B & P just got contacts (ages 13 & 12) B is a casual glasses wearer (meaning that sometimes he prefers blurry vision, i.e. school; whereas games or movies get the full vision treatment. {what?!}) So, he is also a casual contact lense wearer. (Waste of $? Maybe.) P is blind without glasses. Vision degrades every year. He was SO, SO ecstatic to get contacts and has been counting down the days since a couple of years ago the doc casually mentioned that *sometimes* they ok 12 year olds to have contacts. (His appointment was 2 days after his birthday.) He looks fabulous and I'm excited for him...but little parts of me miss that darling bespectacled face.
Nice novel, eh?
8)
Is her response indicative of how she handles life's curveballs? Beause if so, you've got a winner there.
And I totally kept thinking my oldest was faking and felt SO ultra guilty when she just exclaimed in awe at the world when I finally got her glasses. Makes me feel a little sick right now. I need to go read my Letter to a Parent now, I think.
Sometimes I think your blog is simply a blatant attempt to make me love your children.... and the rest of the time I know it is!
I've missed you. Thanks for your sweet notes. xoxo, m