Letters from North
America
Like
many so called ‘mature’
persons in this country
I stand firm in refusing
to admit that I may need
to look into buying a
hearing aid. It isn’t
that I think I need one,
but I do have to agree
with my wife that often
I miss a certain segment
of our conversations. I
tend to think that this
condition is temporary
and is a function of my
being busy and nothing
more.
When I’m under stress or
very busy I just kind of
tune everything else in
my life out and
concentrate upon the
task at hand. Case in
point, last night we
went to a restaurant
with our family for one
of our son’s birthdays.
I was relaxed and had
zero difficulty hearing
any and all of the
conversations taking
place around me. I don’t
recall asking anyone to
repeat anything they
said and fully and
completely understood
all of the dialogue
going on for several
hours inside of a noisy
atmosphere.
On the other hand, I
don’t doubt my wife when
she tells me that I miss
a lot of the things she
tells me. Whether I do
this unintentionally or
just choose to ignore
her for some reason or
another, I cannot fully
answer. I think it
really has to do with my
personal stress level.
At least that’s my
opinion and my answer
and I’m sticking to it.
But I will have to
admit, not being able to
(or perhaps wanting to)
hear does have its
amusing moments.
For example, we have one
of those new WEII
machines. You know the
ones that hook up to
your television and you
can do exercises and
games on them. Well,
when you get my age and
someone says … “Let’s go
We…” you have a tendency
to conjure up completely
different images in your
mind than playing a game
on the television.
Language and words have
certainly changed since
I was a kid.
If you’re in the same
situation, I’d suggest
you start writing these
little bon mots down for
posterity sake. I’m sure
someone is going to do a
book in the coming years
about what we think we
hear and what was
actually said. I think
everyone can relate to
what I’m talking about.
Let me tell you about
something that happened
to us a few weeks ago.
I was drinking my first
cup of coffee early one
morning and reading the
paper as usual. My wife
came into the room and
starting reading a
section of the paper and
then she made a
statement that made me
look up and want to know
where she had heard what
I thought she had said.
I know I heard her say
something about … ‘the
tamale pirates’. My
first thought was that
the problems had gotten
so bad down in Mexico
that the bad guys were
starting to hijack ship
loads of tamales headed
for the United States. I
had not ever even
considered the
possibility of tamales
being transported by
cargo ship. I asked her
for more information and
she wanted to know what
I thought she had said.
I had to confess about
the tamale part even
though I felt sure that
was not what she had
been talking about. She
had been talking about
SOMALI pirates…..not
TAMALE pirates. Perhaps
I was under stress since
I had not finished my
first cup of coffee.
Driving and listening to
the radio is an
adventure as well. I
drive to some parts of
Texas where radio waves
do not seem to travel.
These are areas so
remote I don’t think
short wave can get
there. I don’t have one
of the newer satellite
radios so I have to make
do with what I can tune.
In some cases all you
can get is a distant AM
station with some hell
and brimstone preacher.
The last time I tuned
in, I could have sworn
the guy was making a
sermon about ‘Cain and
Abner’ which immediately
got my attention since I
thought maybe I had
overlooked that story. I
was forced to slow down
so I could lower the
road and wind noise to
see what the guy was
really talking about.
I should start keeping a
journal of all of these.
Or better yet, I should
tell my wife to keep one
for me. She has a better
understanding of what is
actually going on.
Comments got to
www.pearyperry.com.
Complaints go nowhere.
