20/20 vision

It's possible I've never had 20/20 vision in my life, at least if I did I wasn't old enough to tell that I had 20/20 vision.

Surprisingly enough then, I've only worn glasses since the 6th grade. My sixth grade teach was convinced that there was something wrong with my vision and sent me to the school nurse who sent home a letter to my parents asking them to take me to an eye doctor.

The eye doctor was in shock to hear I had never had glasses prior to seeing him. Somehow my grades had stayed good enough throughout years of elementary school that no one noticed that I was practically blind. My first prescription was over +5.00 diopters. Incredible given most people who they realize they are first losing their vision and go see an eye doctor get a prescription of +1.00 or +1.50 possibly +2.00 as a maximum prescription. At +5.00 diopters, typically you can't exist without glasses, for example, you won't recognize someone until they're at least 10 feet or less in front of you.

I'm reminded of all this because my parents recently found pictures of me taken during my eleventh birthday. These pictures must have been the last pictures taken of me without glasses, as I've needed them ever since. Just a reminder of how far I've come. And in case you're wondering my prescription today is something between +6.5 and +7.0 diopters, so I can see less than ever.