Mulberry Jam

On Sunday I dragged my husband out to help me pick out some new eyeglasses. Isn’t there something rather archaic about that word? Eyeglasses. It makes me think of other old-fashioned words like spyglass, looking-glass, hourglass.

Anyway, I went determined to get something more fun and fashionable than my current pair. I have to admit, I am not the kind of woman who naturally looks appealing in glasses. Some females manage the look of “cute girl wearing glasses.” I’ve always been more the sort who looks like the first thing I’m likely to say will be “Ssshhh!” But I have a new haircut now, and I thought I’d try to see if I could shoot for “fashionable woman wearing glasses.” That didn’t seem too ambitious to manage.

I wound up having a great deal of fun trying on pairs in wildly varying styles. Each pair seemed destined for a different kind of life, almost the same feeling I get when trying on a costume or a wig. One pair of cat-eye frames with green curlicue details said, “I go to Rockabilly concerts on the weekends and wear a lot of vintage clothes.” Another more severe pair of black frames declared, “I travel frequently in Europe and I like modern sculpture.” I thought that pair might even speak a little German, if you know what I mean.

The pair I finally ordered made me smile every time I put them on. They are bright red, with broad temple pieces, and are far bolder than anything I expected to select. But somehow they seemed to bring out the fun in me, and they worked well with the new curly blonde bob I’m sporting these days. It amazes me that a little bit of plastic balanced across the nose can enhance or suppress aspects of one’s personality. It strikes me that eyeglass frames are aptly named—they frame not just the lenses but the whole face. I sincerely hope that others will find the new frame appealing, but if not, at least they will amuse me.

What do you think?