Eye Patch T-Shirts and Stuff

Yesterday, we posted a really good conversation between Miss E (a totally rad 7 year old girl who also happens to wear an eye patch) and her mom. Miss E is starting to get a little embarrassed when people make comments about her eye patch. She wishes she had a shirt that would just explain it for her so she wouldn't have to.

I liked her so much that I decided to write her a little note:
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Dear Miss E,

There are now about a couple of thousand moms who read the conversation you had with your mom and they don't think you're awesome. THEY KNOW YOU'RE AWESOME. And probably now we all want to be your dancemates. And guess what each of these moms is going to do?

First, we're going to teach our children that when they see another kid with a eye patch (or something else like an eye patch, that looks a little different) that they should say this: "Hi!" And then they can ask if that kid wants to play. Or if they're at the store or something, they can just keep walking with their moms (but keeping one hand on the cart and not running around where their mom can't see them or being too noisy).

This is me high fiving you.

And us moms are also going to mention to other grown-ups they know that it's not OK to embarrass very cool kids by asking them silly questions. And if we see it happening, we're going to step up and change the subject like this:

Weird old man who smells like cheese: "Hey little girl! Why are you wearing an eye patch?"
Me: "Hey old man, why do you smell like foot cheese?" "Hey kiddo! How was school today? You look like you're in second grade. Do you have to memorize math facts?"

You know why we're all going to do this? Two reasons: one is because you're awesome (obviously). And because there are other kids just like you who are also awesome. The second reason is that your mom loves you so much that she just got a whole army of other moms to start making the world an easier place for you to be. Because she knows you are that special and amazing. You're pretty lucky to have mom who loves you like that.

Your friend, Lydia
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Now about those t-shirts... I think these are the slogans the kiddo liked best:

• Ninja Fight. I won.
• I fought a tiger and I won.
• If you can pronounce esotropic amblyopia, you can ask about my eye patch.
• The eyepatch? It's so I don't go blind.
• Vision is repairable, manners are a choice

Also, someone linked to this one on Cafepress, that is also really great. There are a bunch more right here from a group called Amblyopia Awareness.

If someone is very creative and designery-irsh, we'd love it if you'd whip up some designs of these slogans. Pretty please? Somebody talented? Otherwise, we'll just use the slogans and that's fine, too.

This is how we'll do it.
1) Get the designs/Type up the slogans
2) Throw 'em on t-shirts at our Cafe Press store where they will be sold at cost 
3) Try and post the design images (in mirror view) for folks who are crafty enough to print them onto iron-on transfers (you can buy them at Walmart for about $5)

So that's the plan.

xoxo, Lyd

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