My family and friends call me Langston.  My wife and kids call me daddy.  I am a pediatric emergency medicine physician.  My journey to that career path started 35 years ago when I was only 2 weeks old and my parents walked into the ocularist’s office without a clue but with a lot of fear in their heart.  I was born with only 1 sighted eye, my right eye, and my LEFT eye was very underdeveloped.  My friends and family all know that I have an artificial eye (or ocular prosthesis).  Likewise, they know never to call it a “fake” eye—as nobody can tell the difference unless I tell them.  And they know never to say it looks gross—this came after hearing it  several times from people who claimed they wanted to see me take my eye out.  For those of you who lost your eye traumatically, I am truly sorry and I could never imagine what you went (or are still going) through.  This is how I was born and I never knew any different   Growing up I attended school, played baseball, swam, enjoyed the outdoors, earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and many other things people would consider as a part of a “normal" childhood.  My eye was a part of my everyday life and was always normal to me, my family, my friends, and anybody else who dared to watch and listen.  I would have loved to become an ocularist and follow in my ocularist’s footsteps; alas, I have ZERO artistic ability.  So...becoming a doctor seemed like the next closest thing to helping kids within the field of medicine.  During my medical training my ocularist introduced me to a person who was considering having an implant surgery so their ocular prosthesis had better movement.  I was shocked to find out that this person’s immediate family and the person they were engaged to were the only ones who knew about their eye prosthesis.  What?!  EVERYONE I had spent more than 5 minutes with knew about my eye—I was proud; I was never ashamed; it was my party trick; and most days nobody knew the difference unless I wanted them to.  I never had pain or discomfort.  I anticipated, with great excitement, my surgery to make both my eyes track together; and the next week at school all my friends noticed how cool it was!  Finding out that someone else could be so private, and possibly ashamed, of their eye was devastating.  We are a STRONG community of one-eyed folks.  (And although I cannot imagine being blind—or having no sighted eyes—I have met persons with two prosthetic eyes who are just as proud as I am.). Be a mentor my one-eyed friends, it can really change someone’s life!