Priceless

This is a funny story I want to remember so here we go...

We were walking around the ritzy part of V's town when we passed the local optometrist.
She told me that was where she had gotten the contacts we provided, and we walked on. Contacts did not work by the way, they were not comfortable she said.

She's been telling me she cannot see for several months now. As in, read the board, etc. and walking around town she will say at times she can't see letters. Having myself discovered that trees have leaves about in 5th grade (those of you who are blind know what I mean) .... I said. well, why don't we go in now and get some glasses then?

We went in, looked at frames, waited our turn and then the optometrist was ready. V was taken into the exam room, and me, being a dutiful MD Mom, tried to follow. Oh no, I was shooed out.

Pretty soon, V came out sporting an apparatus designed to hold the varying lenses and was told to walk around and see how the world looked. She seemed happy, was reading signs and letters and so the prescription was pronounced correct and a piece of paper with the numbers was produced and we were told to go pick the lenses. I happened to glance at the piece of paper and was surprised that the number was low (high = worse vision) but decided to just go with it and proceed with the plan.

After some lively discussion and trying on of various frames (in which Dad voted too), a pair was chosen. We left the shop after being told to return in about thirty minutes for the final product.

As we walked away, she said to me, "Mom. the shop assistant said to me "oh, your parents do not speak Russian but you speak it so well! I am so embarrassed that I cannot speak good English to talk to them".

It took me a second to fully realize what had happened. Basically we appeared for all the world to be a typical American family, wandering the streets of S------ with our lovely daughter, who happens to speak perfect Russian (although her parents don't) and so therefore, we fooled the natives well.

Priceless.