{"id":24522,"date":"2016-08-07T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2016-08-07T07:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=24522"},"modified":"2016-08-07T00:01:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-07T07:01:53","slug":"big-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/big-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"My Big Brother Loves Me — The Cataract Chronicles Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Her<\/a>
Big Brother took this photo of me in our suburban Detroit front yard the summer before my senior year in college, long before cataracts could develop. I’m liking\u00a0that mid-century red lipstick. The Jackie O bouffant, not so much. Barbara Newhall photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

My big brother loves me. I’ve always known that, of course. But recently he\u00a0said it out loud, in so many words.<\/p>\n

The second of my cataract surgeries was recently behind me, and I could see pretty well out of both eyes. \u00a0My brother and I\u00a0were sitting across the table from each other at a neighborhood restaurant, and I was managing to read the menu and see my brother both at the same time — without the help of the glasses I’d worn\u00a0since fifth grade.<\/p>\n

I liked my new look. No glasses. A face with a mouth, a nose, and actual,\u00a0visible eyes.<\/p>\n

\"Her<\/a>
Here I am today, bare-faced, cataracts removed, sans glasses. I’m going to need some eye make-up. Photo by Jon Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But not Big Brother. He liked the old Barb, the one he’d known since grade school. The one with glasses.<\/p>\n

“Barb, you should wear your glasses,” he said. “You’ve always worn them. That’s what you’re known for.”<\/p>\n

I took that\u00a0to mean that my brother loves me. I know that’s not what he said. But the\u00a0subtext, as far as I’m concerned, was that I, his little sister, was\u00a0an important fixture in his life and, no changes, please. I like you, I want you, exactly as I’ve always known you.<\/p>\n

If that isn’t love, what is?<\/p>\n

Of all the people walking around on earth right now, my Big Brother is the one who’s known me the longest. He somehow found me interesting enough to play with\u00a0when he was a big, competent 4-year-old and I a toddler. In elementary school, he\u00a0stuck up for\u00a0me when the girls up the street tried to\u00a0bully me.<\/p>\n

\"Barbara<\/a>
Me again, post-cataract surgery wearing the glasses I need to drive. (The prescription is new and doesn’t shrink my eyes.<\/a>) Frames same harlequin shape as those of my college years. What gives? Photo by Jon Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A Big Brother Who Took Me Seriously<\/h5>\n

When I was a freshman in college and taking my studies quite seriously, he suggested that I have a little fun. And when I, drunk on Great Books and Psych 101, replied, “What good is fun?” he didn’t laugh.<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u00a0got\u00a0through high school, college and my twenties just fine wearing\u00a0glasses. Despite our mother’s admonition that “Boys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses,” I\u00a0was\u00a0the object of a pass or two in my day.<\/p>\n

I had\u00a0a few brief and unsuccessful flirtations with contact lenses. But ultimately, I gave up on them. For decades I chose the most comfortable, child-proof frames and\u00a0lenses on my optometrists’ shelves.<\/p>\n

My Naked, Post-Cataract Eyes<\/h5>\n

But now, with one eye perfectly adjusted for looking into the mirror and spotting every wrinkle, sun spot and hair on my chinny-chin-chin, and the other pretty good at\u00a0reading a\u00a0“60% off” sign from across the aisle\u00a0at Macy’s, now I actually had the option of going naked-faced, baring my nicely dark brown eyes and minimalist eyelashes for all the world to see. It was an odd feeling, a little akin to those dreams you have of showing up for class with no clothes on, except\u00a0pleasurable.<\/p>\n

Maybe that’s what was bothering my brother actually — not the unexpected change, but the sight of so much of his sister exposed to the world for all to see.<\/p>\n

That could be. But I choose to think otherwise. I’m going with — my big brother loves me.<\/p>\n

More fashion stories at “For China’s Young Fashionistas, the Cultural Revolution Is So Over.”<\/a>\u00a0More Cataract Chronicles at “The Cataract Chronicles — I’ll Be Seeing Me.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

When my big brother saw me without glasses for the first time in a half century, his reaction took me by surprise. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[103,43,1720,1595,34,566,266,1597,55,82],"class_list":["post-24522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-changing-family","tag-aging","tag-beauty","tag-brothers","tag-cataracts","tag-dont-miss","tag-fashion","tag-getting-older","tag-glasses","tag-family-stories","tag-on-the-funny-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}