In 2015, I became depressed over the state of affairs. Political rhetoric was out of control, hate crimes were up 67% and things seemed dismal at best. One day after reaching my breaking point I called my little brother Brad and I cried on the phone for almost 2 hours about all of the negativity. My brother didn’t know what to do or say but he sent me a meme. It was a picture of a little guinea pig wearing heart shaped glasses and it read “I can’t see the haters with my love glasses on”.

It was at that moment that I decided to go out and buy a pair of heart shaped glasses. I felt like it was a shield to go out in the world and that if anyone said or did anything negative to me, I would be ready. However, that is not what happened…not even close.

I would wear my love glasses to the grocery store and it never failed that someone would say, “Oh I love your heart shaped sunglasses!” and I would respond “they are my love glasses!” and then they would ask “Where can I get some?” Each and every time I went out I would have an interaction and it was often times around my glasses. Things started to change and I looked forward to going out and find new people to meet and share a kind word or a smile.