Reinventions of self

Today I went to pick up my new glasses. They're the purple ones that you see over this text. Every time I put them on I feel brand new (and dizzy, but that's just my eyes adjusting to the new prescription) and it kinda ties in well with this time in my life where I can clearly feel I'm starting a brand new chapter of what promises to be a very happy and exciting story. A new job and the promise of a bright future. And it got me thinking.

I guess you can tell my story through my glasses. I've started wearing glasses shortly after starting Uni as a result of so many readings in less than perfect lighting. It's funny, almost everyone I know from my course started Uni without glasses and yet almost everyone was wearing glasses by the time we graduated. English majors, eh?

Anyhoot, my first pair was as understated as you could get. The slimmest of frames, black, and only on top, the bottom was just the lens without a frame. In photos you could almost miss them on my face. I felt good with them. Brainy and true to my love of literature (or at least to the cliché of it). I felt like I now had something that would require people to take me seriously. I wore glasses, ergo I knew my business.

My second pair was acquired while I was still at Uni though by then I had discovered dance and song and acting, so I was ready to be bolder. Hence came my red glasses (see in picture above). I was going through an artistic phase and when I got home with such a statement on my face my dad almost had a fit. You are going to get sick of them fast, the novelty will soon be lost and you'll be stuck with them for ages, he said (and by said I mean shouted). Which thankfully was never the case. I fell in love with my glasses today as much as on the first moment they rested upon my nose. They represent a willingness to be noted, to be looked at, to be adventurous and fun and to take a leap into the unknown. I was ready to venture outside of my shell. As my boyfriend and the salespeople at vision express can tell you, it took a lot of effort to get me to accept something on my face other than my red glasses. I knew a change was needed, but I just didn't feel like myself without them.

And now make way for the purple ones. I confess I was slightly unconvinced at the shop, but as soon as I put them on today on my way to work I could see a different life before me. This is a new me. This is a rebirth, a reinvention. For the first time in my life I feel like a grown-up through and through. No more crappy teenager jobs, no more wearing trainers to work. Now it's all boots and packed leftovers for lunch and being wary of scratching my eyes because ups! I'm now wearing makeup. It's a new life for me. And it seems only fitting that it should show on my face.