A New Set of Eyes

It was a fall day and I was in fourth grade. I still remember leaving the shingled building where my optometrist office was located and the distinct smell of damp cedar shingles. My new glasses, in true early 1980s fashion, were pinkish- purple oversized frames. When I stepped outdoors, I could not believe the view in front of me. The clarity was stunning. Where previously I had seen a world of soft edges, blurred colors and indistinct shapes, there was now defined lines and a crispness I couldn't fathom. I started taking my glasses off and looking around, only to put them back on and look at the same view. The tree that without my glasses was a large bloom of blurry orange, brown and yellow now became singular leaves with individual bursts of color and dimension.