Quiet Gratitude

I'm grateful for my quiet world.

I wrote about my hearing problems in the past. What I didn't write about was when my parents bought me hearing aides.

This happened one Christmas not long ago; my parents gift to me was hearing.

I never knew what I didn't have until I put those hearing aides in.... I got into my car and turned on the radio and... I HEARD the words! I listened to one song I've heard a number of times and said, "Ohhhhh, that's what it was all about!"

When I got home, I was on the computer. Nobody else was there. I heard a sound, something moving. I turned towards the sound and wow - it was the window blinds moving in the other room. (Tigger, our cat, likes to sit on the windowsill and warm his fur.)


Then, I was typing on the computer and had to stop. I heard something, but couldn't place it. I went absolutely still and finally realized - it was the tick-tock of the wall clock!

The next day, I went to the office and sounds were plentiful! I heard customers at the front counter. But..... on the flip side, I just about clawed into the ceiling when an employee hit a stapler! The sound was sharp and shocked the daylights out of me. Lol. The phone - not so easy, because when I held the receiver to my right ear I would sometimes get feedback and the left ear would still pick up people talking loudly. It felt like my brain was split in half.

At one point, I asked an employee, "Is this normal? Do you constantly hear all this things? How do people live with so much noise?" She said that people filter it..

By the end of the day, I was on information overload. I was also getting a headache from the constant static sound. I went back to the doctor to have the static sound adjusted, but if it was adjusted where I wasn't hearing the static, it was also too low to really help me hear any better.

After two months of wearing the hearing aid ~ Sadly, I decided I couldn't keep the hearing aids. As much as it opened the world to me, it was difficult to adjust to. If I returned the hearing aid within a certain timeframe, it would be 100 percent refund (other than the hearing aid test). I brought the hearing aid back.... I'm VERY grateful that my parents gave me an opportunity to have my ears... I consider it an amazing gift.

And I'm grateful for my quiet world again :)