On glasses, contacts, the way I see the world, part I

I am a glasses wearer. I've worn glasses since fourth grade and they've become a part of my face and my identity. My glasses are the first thing I attend to in the morning and the last thing attend to before going to sleep. I've literally grown up wearing glasses, and my slightly crooked nose is accustomed the weight of the frames and lenses.

I'm not usually conscious of the fact that I'm wearing glasses, but I never forget that I'm wearing them. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching my life as a movie because out of the corners of my eye I can see slightly beyond the edge of the frame and see the world unaided by corrective lenses. I don't usually pay much attention to this.

On New Year's Day a screw got loose from my frame and I've had to put some string in its place to keep the left lens from popping out. I haven't gotten around to going to get it fixed so I've been walking around looking like a nerd out of a bad 80s comedy, with glasses slightly askew and poorly mended. Yesterday I went out shopping with my sister and decided to wear my contacts instead. Oh, another thing about being a glasses wearer is having to be careful when trying things on, to make sure that the glasses are properly secured on the face or a flat surface to ensure that they don't fall off, break, etc.

First thing I noticed: I have to clean my glasses more often. I think the prescription on my contacts is a little outdated, but everything looked brighter and crisper to me. It was like I was seeing the world the way it was supposed to look, as opposed to the way I looked at the world. And, of course, my face looked different. Glasses magnified my eyes and took up some space on my face; without them my eyes were their normal size (much smaller) and it became apparent just how big my cheeks are. I felt like I looked like a completely different person. I leaned in closer to perform a more thorough investigation of my unobstructed face...