At dinner the other night with my mom at the retirement home, one of the ladies at our table told us how she had just got a new set of “computerized” hearing aids. She had been unable to hear, really, for nine years, she said. I quietly observed her as she went around the room telling people how she could now hear everyone and the clarity with which she could hear them.
I remember when I got my first pair of glasses. I didn’t know how bad my eyesight had become until I tried out the new lenses. Trees really were green and there were edges to the leaves – things weren’t just a blur any longer.
Imagine going nine years sitting among people and not being able to hear the conversation. I can’t. I can only think of the feeling of isolation it must bring at times or the fact that one would really have to learn to read lips or sign language. Premature hearing loss runs on the maternal side of my family line, so this is something I think about occasionally – particularly when my youngest tells me I’m going deaf.
Watching the lady and her giddy joy at being able to hear – something most of us take for granted – made all my problems seem trivial and superficial. Being around the elderly for any length of time really makes you realize how unimportant many of our everyday struggles really are.
Image source page: http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2009/11/pelosicare-hear.html
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I was cleaning out my email box the other day and I came across what I’ll call the “Dear Jane” email from the last guy I dated. I had thought I deleted it but I hadn’t. Not because of any leftover feelings – just hadn’t gotten to cleaning out my inbox. But there was something he wrote that when I read it for the second time made a light bulb turn on.
