Best Money I've Ever Spent

I got glasses when I was in the second grade. I remember my parents taking my sister and me both to get our very first pair. I picked out some pretty purple ones. On the way home, I remember my sister and I reading all of the signs, completely in awe. I remember saying to my parents, "You mean to tell me that most people see this good ALL the time?!" And thinking, "Wow, the trees really do have leaves on them!" Isn't that sad?

Well, from there my sight just went downhill. I got my first pair of contacts when I was in the 5th grade. I totally loved wearing them over glasses. Over the years my eyes continued to get worse and worse. I think I probably tried every kind of contact over the next 16 years.

My glasses were coke bottles and let me just tell you, they weren't pretty. I never liked wearing them. I always felt dirty when I had to wear them. I'm not really sure why--maybe because usually if I was wearing them it was early morning before I was ready for the day, or just before bed. I heard someone say once that wearing glasses was like looking out a window your whole life.

When I was about 18ish, I went on a camp out with a bunch of my friends. Some of them were seeing me in glasses for the first time. It was on this trip that one of my guy friends referred to my glasses as my "birth control glasses." Nice.

My husband likes to tell people he saw me walk into a wall once. Hahaha. Sadly it's true. My dad likes to tell the story about me failing the "how many fingers am I holding up?" in the doctors office and hearing the doctor and nurse laughing about it in the hallway. My mom reminds me often of the time we were boating and I was assigned to be the flagger. As she recalls, she was on the water weiney with some of my siblings and was doing the "STOP" signal over and over. Unfortunately, I missed seeing it at all. Or there's the embarrassing story when I went boating with a friend and her dad asked me to video tape her doing tricks on the knee board. Well, when we got home and played it back, there was about 10 minutes of blue sky recorded, and that was it. (I remember struggling to see, but thought I could see an outline of something?...maybe not?) Well, the list goes on and on...you get the point, right? I was basically blind!

I had been dreaming of having lasik eye surgery as long as I could remember. Unfortunately, with my perscription and the shape of my eye, I was not a candidate. And yes, I cried the first time they told me that.

Three years ago, I went to the office (where my husband, father, and sister all had lasiks done) just to have a free consultation and see if I had any hope at all. A few days later I had PRK surgery done. It is done with a laser (like lasiks) but it is a little more invasive and your sight takes a little longer (a few weeks) to fully improve. I completely jumped at this chance and have never looked back.

I went in for my 3 year post op last month and I still have nearly perfect vision. It is truly a miracle to me. I have asked a lot of my bloggy friends "what's the best money you've ever spent?" I figured I would answer this question myself. This is absolutely the best money I have ever spent--worth every penny! And I would do it again in a heartbeat!