
Perfect glasses.
I need new glasses. I’ve needed new glasses for almost a year now, but a hairline fracture has started in the right lens of these and it’s forcing the issue. This past week, I’ve spent a lot of time on glasses websites shopping for the right new pair. I thought that would be fun, but damned if it isn’t a little bit upsetting.

Too green
I’ve had my current glasses for at least six years; maybe longer. When I got them, they were a backup for contact lenses so I wouldn’t have to travel with lens paraphernalia, and just generally to have a simpler option. They are so perfect for me that I switched to wearing them pretty exclusively almost immediately. I still have one unworn set of disposable contacts in the medicine cabinet – probably expired by now.

OMG TOO MUCH GLASSES ABORT ABORT
This pair of glasses arrived in my life at a time when a lot of pieces of the way I present myself kind of all came together. I started dyeing my hair crazy colors and cutting it in the early version of the wedge bob I have now. I finally figured out that short skirts and cardigan sweaters were far more flattering on my body than the long hippie skirts and giant sweaters I’d been wearing for years. And I got these sexy, dark red glasses with the narrow lenses and the scrollwork pattern on the arms. They suited me perfectly, and I felt the most like myself – the most right in my clothes and my hair and my body – that I’d ever felt in my life. Peak Kateri, basically. So yeah, I love these glasses.

Good red, but too big.
Adding to my distress over this process is the fact that when I got my current pair of glasses, it was pretty much a 30-second process. I spotted them from halfway across the room, I tried them on, they were perfect, DONE. I kind of assumed it would be similar this time around. I thought to myself, yes, these were fantastic, but it’s time to move on and there will be another fantastic pair of glasses. A lateral move to Peak Kateri, continued. Alas, not so. My options are limited because my insurance doesn’t cover eye care, so I’m trying to stick to a narrow window of providers. I’m about to struggle through a third home try-on of things that I know before they even arrive are not quite right. I am trying some that I know are too narrow because they’re a good color. And one in a good color that doesn’t come in the right shape.

These weird two-color ones are kind of growing on me.
I know I’ll find a good pair eventually, and then I won’t think about it again for another six or seven years. But in the meantime, I’m surprised to find how much of a difference it makes to the way I see myself – looking at my face in the wrong glasses. Probably they don’t look all that wrong.to other eyes (except for that one giant owl-eyed pair), but wow, it makes a difference to me.
So, silly question maybe, but why not keep the current frame and just get new lenses? Or are the frames beat up too?
Sadly, they are. The red is faded and there are some structural weaknesses that can’t be repaired past a certain point anymore. I’ll keep them for a backup pair, though. (Also, despite the tiny agony of choosing new ones, I suspect it’s good for me to move on from time to time.)