After months of deliberating, John’s new sunglasses arrived. Not just any sunglasses. EnChroma sunglasses. Sunglasses that bring color to the color blind.
John is not profoundly color blind, but he has a hard time finding a red ball in a field of green, if he can even tell you it’s red after he’s found it. And while I don’t want to harp on the amount of times he’s argued with me over what color a grey/green/dark blue/black item of clothing is, let’s just say it’s come up over the years. This spring a friend sent a video John’s way, thinking he might be interested…
…and last week they arrived in the mail.
It was exciting but I was a little bit nervous. What if they didn’t work? They don’t work for everyone and after all the deliberation and long wait it would be a huge disappointment. He opened the box and read the directions “Strong daylight is ideal. Go outside!”
I looked outside with my natural color vision. It’s December, it’s Wisconsin, it was overcast. It was not what I would call a colorful day. But you work with what you have.
We stepped out the front door, John put them on and looked around.
The grass was greener (for November in Wisconsin), the leftover pumpkins from Halloween were brighter (for old mushy pumpkins), John was interested in the color my hat had turned but seemed less than overwhelmed.
Fifteen minutes the directions recommended, so we set out on a little walk around the property.
At the scrubby edge of the orchard he stopped when he saw the wild black raspberry canes.
He stopped because, as John now knows, the tangle of brush he never gave a second glance to is laced with arcs of purple and red.
We admired the beauty of raspberry canes for a long time.
When we moved on, John was seeing new color everywhere, the green moss on the trees, the red combs on the chickens… he started bouncing on his toes and finally exclaimed:
“It’s like eating ham sandwiches your whole life and then having a panini!”
Then both of us finished the walk looking at the color around us with new eyes.
Of course seeing the world in color is anything but mundane but that’s not going to stop me from linking up with Mundane Monday again!
Behind the Willows 
This is very exciting. I didn’t know such glasses existed.
Isn’t it awesome, we never would have known if our friend didn’t send over the video!
Brilliant Jessie – I didn’t know these glasses were in existence either and was about to snap up a pair but they are a bit pricey at the moment for a #poorstarvingauthor so I’ve saved in a special place. I would love for my husband to see what I see – or alternatively I’ve often wondered if there were glasses to show me how he saw the world. I love the fact your husband took such interest in the raspberry canes – that is terrific 🙂
They are pricey. We had to do some saving and while we did he talked with his eye doctor and things as well. Now he says that he didn’t get quite the right size but unless they will trade him for a new pair he’s never giving them back! 🙂 I’m pretty sure John would say they are worth saving and waiting for!
I remember seeing the video with the guy who got those who was freaking out over purple and then going outside and seeing all the green grass. He was more profoundly colorblind, but I can’t imagine how spring looks for someone that green=mud. It sounds like John has the same level of colorblindness that my ex-boyfriend from a few years ago has…just enough for me to forget once in a while until a color specific question came up 🙂
It’s funny how it’s forgettable and then we would look at a picture of a rainbow and I’d be aghast at how much he was missing out on. Or I’d point out a red balloon in a green tree and he wouldn’t be able to find it…
I got emotional reading this. How wonderful that there is something to help those who have color blindness. I have a friend who is color blind. I’m going to tell him about your post!
It was a bit emotional. At one point he said that he thought his brain might explode from all the newness and that it was a good thing it wasn’t sunny and more colorful out or it would for sure explode! 🙂 We are still hoping to take a trip to the botanical gardens here but car accident and stomach flu hit and so he’s had to be content with grey skies and green moss. But soon!
Color is so important to me. Our home is very colorful and happy. I am happy for your sweetie. That’s awesome.
It hard to imagine not seeing it when you can isn’t it? Technology these day is awesome. Everything from blogging friends around the world to color vision for the color blind! Amazing stuff.
So cool. I keep forgetting to send this to Alex, but I need to. I’m so glad John gets to have metaphorical panini. 😀
Is he color blind too? John told me I had to blog about it because the glasses are so awesome he wants all the color blind people to know about them!
Beautiful. I just love the simplicity and the lines created by the canes and its color.
Thank you! Walking with John as he noticed the colors for the first time really made me look twice at so much that I usually ignore as part of the background.
That is cute. You always have a story behind your pictures 🙂
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