Glasses half full

I've never been one for pricey sunglasses, since the risk of losing them in my purse, inadvertently sitting on them, or otherwise scratching them is too great. So for the past two years I've worn the same pair that Michael bought for me at a cute little (but inexpensive) boutique right before our wedding. I blithely ignored the increased rattle, the buildup of scratches on the lenses, and the habit of the metal nose rests to snag my hair whenever I coolly pushed the sunglasses up on my head. But when the sidepiece finally snapped off, I knew the time had come to take drastic measures. Right before our Oregon trip over the 4th of July, I went to the Dollar Store to buy new sunglasses.

They were sleek, black, and almost Matrix-like - to their credit. To their discredit, they gripped my head too tightly and tried to slide up too far on my nose, thus impeding my blinking mechanism. But I stoically bore with it because they looked so cool and because I had spent good money on them. I went off to Oregon, had a great time not getting blinded by the sun, and enjoyed pushing them up on my head whenever I went indoors because I had cleverly purchased an all-plastic pair, with nothing to snag in my hair.

Then I managed to lose them the week after we got back. I went to the County Courthouse to pick up Jane's birth certificate, and somehow in the process of unloading my purse for security and traipsing through the building in search of wrong departments I misplaced the things (or thing. Plurals are such fun! Like, is a two-pack of underwear a pair or not?) This did not distress me as much as one would suppose, because it gave me an excuse to go back to the Dollar Store and buy another pair, this time devoting greater attention to fit. My new pair doesn't look nearly so Matrix-like, but they do look sleek and black. More importantly, the hue of the shade is on the lines of the warm spectrum, infinitely preferable to the cool tones of blue or green. I like the view very much. In fact, as I announced to Michael with great delight when he came home that night:

'I now see the world through rose-coloured glasses!'