A month ago – for all his life (since fifth grade).
The big guy stares into the mirror.
All he sees is a face with glasses.
He’s able to remove the glasses, of course, but then has to stick his face three inches from the mirror in order to see his face clearly, and, of course, since he’s so close, he can only see a fraction of his face.
The big guy works in an office building where you have to take an elevator (for security reasons) to your floor where your cube sits.
These elevators have polished steel inner elevator doors.
The big guy usually (along with other passengers) silently stares at his image reflection (or at their feet) as he waits until the doors open at his floor.
Again, all he sees are the glasses.
The glasses that cover his eyes.
The color of which, he is unsure.
Today, yesterday, and for the past week or so.
The big guy rides the elevator down to the skyway level, in order to get his usual muffin and OJ breakfast.
In the elevator by himself, rather than staring at his shoes, he looks forward, and sees an image in the reflection.
Whose face is that staring back at him??
Is that what he looks like without his glasses??
Boy, he’s handsome!
Lol
[Ok, that was a bit much, don’t you think?]Boy, he’s…uh…sorta…maybe…handsome.
Lol
[that wasn’t any better…]Oh, ok, maybe he now understands why he’s called “The B.U.G.” (Big, Ugly, Guy).
Lol
No, really, the big guy can finally see his eyes.
His BLUE eyes ( 👀 )
And, those things under his eyes.
Oh my…
Dark circles.
Under his eyes.
Wow, the big guy never noticed those before.
But, look.
People can now see those blue eyes his glasses always hid.
Last several days, the big guy has a new bounce in his step.
In some ways, seems a bit more confident.
He’s been driving without his glasses to and from the bus station, via the side streets, a mile away.
But, he knows that he still needs his glasses for the major streets/freeways. Such a pain since the glasses match the bad eye, and then causes blurriness with the new/fixed eye. He’s tried popping out that lens but it doesn’t “work” as one would expect.
The big guy cannot wait until the second eye is done…
So, this is the world that people without glasses see each and every day, he says to himself.
[a random thought has just occurred to him – such a nice Christmas present, he says.]