The Last Word On Nothing | My Two-Decade Sunglasses

I’ve been telling myself for a couple of years now that, when my sunglasses turned 20, they were getting their own blog post. Well, that’s sometime around now–my records aren’t too good, but it was definitely 1998 and almost definitely June–so here you go, cheap sunglasses. Thank you for your service. Let’s make it 20 more.

I used to think of myself as the kind of person who loses things. I still feel guilty about a windbreaker I lost in 10th grade or so. That's why getting prescription sunglasses always seemed like a bad idea. Sunglasses exist to get lost. I got by without them when I was doing field work during the summers in college. Botanist is in focus. Rocky mountains are fuzzy. If I wanted the mountains not to be fuzzy, I went for the double glasses. So uncool. I did this for years. In June 1998 I saw an ad in the newspaper for cheap prescription sunglasses. I went to the store, tried on the frames - there were only two options - and took the plunge. The saleswoman says "Skikkelig Hollywood!" That means "Totally Hollywood!" I was in Norway. The glasses stuck with me. 1998, Sightseeing in Turkey. 2002, finally learning how to drive. 2009, Bering Sea ice. 2018, walking to CVS. I get compliments on them all the time, including this past weekend. My friend says "Nice sunglasses, Helen!" I say "Thanks!" This time it was in English. So here we are. June of 2018. I've had the lenses swapped a few times but the frames keep going. I guess I was wrong about what kind of person I am.

Art: It’s me. All me.

3 thoughts on “My Two-Decade Sunglasses”

Love this so much. As journalists we so often look to objects like this to illuminate the people we write about. I love that you turned the mirror on yourself.

Christie, that’s such an interesting point! I think a lot about my stuff – I did a comic earlier about a pair of shoes that I really love – but hadn’t thought of the connection to profile writing. I feel a little weird about how much I love my stuff, because that makes me materialistic, and that is supposed to be bad, right? But also I love these sunglasses.

I disagree about loving your stuff making you materialistic. The trick, I think, is to love the right stuff. Certain things just WORK. Nothing wrong in loving that.

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