About a year ago Ellis was situating her frames on her face and said, “Mommy, I remember what it was like before I had glasses.”

My ears perked up at this new information. She’s been wearing glasses since she was three-years old. “Really?” I said. “What was it like?”

“There was always two of you and everything was blurry.”

My heart hurt a little bit and I asked her, “How did you know what was in front of you?”

She answered, “I held your hand and let you lead me.”

There is a part of me that is sad that she missed out on really seeing the world those first few years, but I believe it spurred her on to ask more questions. It helped her to grow.

She’s now wearing a patch 4 hours a day, and from the very beginning we’ve talked about this as an opportunity…

…an opportunity to get stronger…

…A chance to become a better artist (which is her dream), and to take in the world.

And that’s how she is describing the patch to the many strangers (😏) who ask her about it. “I’m exercising my eye,” she says.