“One or two? Easy!”

“Why optometry?” was often the question I received as a teenager when I flippantly decided that I was going to pursue eye doctor-ing (note: not a real word) as a career path. Back then, I would shrug and respond, “I mean, how hard can it be? One or two? EASY!”

Despite my initial immaturity about optometry, after four years earning the degree and countless hours with patients, I found myself loving my chosen field for what it does for people and marveling at its impact on their lives, like:

**That moment you give a child his or her first prescription and watch the world come into focus for them by just the joyous expression on their face

**The freedom you provide when you fit a patient into multifocal contact lenses

**The process of healing that you facilitate when you catch a patient’s hidden medical condition by way of their ocular health

**The courage you can instill in someone as you walk them through the process of cataract surgery, sending them on their way to a clearer future

Obviously, there is so much more to optometry than just “one or two.” I wish my 17-year-old self could know it- she wouldn’t be so flippant after all.