Glasses for Mary

A couple weeks before our trip Mary had her 5 year check up with her doctor.  During it they did a little eye exam where she stood on a line and was asked to cover one eye and read the letters at the end of the hall.  She did not pass, and so a few days after we got back from our trip we took her in to see the eye doctor.
Mary did so great with everything during the exam, she cooperated so well for the doctor.  It turned out that she did indeed need glasses.  They wanted to dilate her eyes to get a better reading for her prescription.  I have never had this done to my own eyes, so I didn't really know what to expect from that.  For kids they need to use a stronger eye drop because their muscles are stronger and will try to fight the drops.  I think her eyes were a bit sore and sensitive, but she was a trooper.  While we waited for the drops to fully kick in we went out and Mary got to pick out her frames.  She of course picked a hot pink pair!  My attempt at persuading her to pick a black pair wasn't working so I gave in and just let her get the pink pair, they'll be on her face anyway!  Once she realized she wasn't able to take the glasses home right them she got pretty sad.  The fact that she had to wear "ugly sunglasses" didn't help either.  To help her cheer up I told her we could go to another store (Claire's) and get some practice glasses.  She was sad that there weren't any pink glasses there, but she settled for a black pair and a pretzel.  It cheered her up and ended up being a great idea because she was able to practice for a week with a fake pair to prepare her for her real pair.
When we got Mary's glasses and she put them on and walked outside she commented on the trees on the mountains.  I remember having this exact experience when I first got glasses in junior high.  I remember thinking of how beautiful the trees were on the mountain because I couldn't remember ever seeing them before.  I am so glad that Mary gets to have these glasses now and that they are helping her to see all the beauty in this world.
So far Mary has been so great with her glasses.  She doesn't take them off, she doesn't mess with them, and for the most part she remembers to put them in her glasses case when she has to take them off.  We did have one mishap last week where she took them off to get dressed and put them on the ground instead of in her case and ended up sitting on them!  I freaked out at first, but thankfully they were just fine.  Since then she has been very careful to keep them in her case when they're not on her face.  My friend Whitney shared a fun saying with us that I'll use to help her to continue to remember to do this.  "If they're not on your face then they're in your case"