See the Light

It started about a year and a half ago.  I remember one day when I asked him to tell me how much time was left on the oven timer.  He was sitting at the dining table, just 10 feet away or so.  He squinted at first, then got up and walked halfway into the kitchen before telling me what I had asked. I said "why did you get up to look?" and he said "because I couldn't see it from there."  And for awhile I gave everyone else the benefit of the doubt.  His teachers never said anything except that he had scored a little "off" on his school vision screening but that it was probably nothing big.  He was doing great in school. I had friends and relatives who said "oh, that happened to us too... he'll just grow out of it..." So I let it go. And sadly there was a part of me that wondered if he could be telling the truth.  Would my son "fake" a vision impairment in order to wear glasses? I'd heard of it happening before.  Kids thinking glasses were cool, telling their parents they thought they needed them.  But looking back, he never once mentioned glasses.  It was the little clues here and there, not being able to read something that seemed so obviously clear to me and Joe.  And then this school year started and, when questioned, he admitted to not being able to see the board clearly.  I was devastated I had let it go on this long.  The optometrist gave him every test in the book and when he dialed it down to a specific prescription and held the test lenses up for him to look at the letters on the wall, I held back tears as Brendan's face lit up with excitement and he said "oh! now I can see them all clearly!"

I have to admit... I may be a little biased but he sure looks handsome...