The Truth About Frames & Lenses

I needed new glasses. My vision is changing. I'm getting old... blah blah blah. Ok, so I'm feeling lucky because the two glasses stores in the mall are having sales... One sale features $100 off frames. The other features half off lenses (does that mean I only get one lens? Or the top half of both?) I flip a coin and head for the $100 off frames store.

I invite my friend Mark to pick specs with me. When he arrives, we somehow spontaneously decide that reading glasses should be fun - so I start picking nutty frames that Michelle, the woman in the shop, refuses to see the humor in. "That's not nutty... It's a great frame!" (tee hee). I choose a shocking red pair. "Hey! I'm Sally Jesse!" The green pair that fades to black at the nose is a little *too* urban for me. The turquoise pair is ridiculous. Mark tilts his head to one side and takes a good look at me. "You know what? I really like them!" They went into the "keep for later comparison" pile. Mark and I had differing opinions about cats' eye glasses. I think they make me look like a granny. He said, "Yes, but old is the new Young!"

After awhile, we got "Frame-Weird." Each new frame came with a song from the 80's - or a new accent... Mark's '60-style frames screamed, "I know who killed the President!" Big bug-eyed sunglasses made me think of the SleeStacks from Land of the Lost (does anyone remember the SleeStacks?) Others simply rendered a big, "OY VEY!"

When I grew tired of looking, we proceeded to the speed round - We had to choose between 5 pairs - Michelle and Mark both got 5 seconds to say yes or no. Five shrunk to two - and I finally chose the pair least like my current glasses....

Ok. Remember how the frames were $100 off? Well, the price of those frames, with discount, was $29. I was in heaven thinking, "Ok - car repair is coming... New couch (purple... very chic) is being delivered on Friday... having trouble getting a bride to pay the photographer (not much of a story - I think I have it straightened out...) - What a great savings! Until I found out lenses were $250. sigh. My mind reeled. If I bought the same frames at the other mall store - I quickly deduced that the ultimate price would be about the same...

The good news is - I can see this computer screen so much more clearly... So I guess it's worth the money, right? When I sit on my new purple couch, after a day driving in my newly repaired car - I shall be able to read, watch TV, or see friends clearly...

So the truth about frames and lenses is that whatever the sale is - the price is still steep. However, the value of seeing is priceless (do you think an ad agency will pick up on that line any time soon?) (I hope I get commission - I could use the $)