Sunglasses

Sunglasses are a funny thing. They’re easy to lose, at least if you’re me. I buy at least three pair a year. And I usually sink at least one set to the bottom of the lake each summer. In fact, we keep a bagful of cheap ones on the boat. We’ve lost Oakleys and my favorite sunglasses from Target, but somehow, Dad’s obnoxiously yellow ones from the dollar store can’t catch the hint to catch a wave.

I used to believe that sunglasses were for the weak. I never wore them as a kid; I just squinted a lot. But when I started driving, I decided that the sun’s glare across the windshield could be blinding, a word that I don’t like to put in the same sentence with “driving.” Thus, I went to buy some sunglasses, and thus began the long line of fated eyewear.

First there were the purple-tinted ones with the flowery side details. Plastic, comfy, and stylish – I’ve always missed this pair. Then I thought I could rock the Paris Hilton white – I didn’t lose these on purpose, but I sure tried. Next I “borrowed” some plain jane black sunglasses from home. They went road tripping with me, and they were faithful to block UVA and UVB. But like their fellows before, they too disappeared. There were plenty more, but some of them barely lasted a month before they went to sunglass-heaven, and I forgot them.

The latest edition of sunglasses are silver and classy. They’re tinted a light blue, but they tinge the landscape with a light blush. I was driving down the mountain I live on a few days ago, in the dead of winter, but with these sunglasses on, you might have thought autumn had just slipped away. It was kind of nice to see that side of the forest again. But now it’s raining, like it usually does in the winter here, and there’s no sun to block. It’s back to bleak, but I don’t mind. Spring will burst forth before I know it, and when it does, well … it’ll probably be time to buy some more sunglasses.

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