Priceless!

Priceless!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Don't you love those commercials where they talk about material things and what they cost, and then they get to the relationships and they say: Priceless!  That is how today was.  I had a laid back morning while my housekeeper was here.  Then I made a trip to the grocery store for lunch and supper items.  Lunch was wonderfully grilled fajitas, Mexican rice and re-fried beans. 

Then we got ready to go to Boca Chica Beach for the evening.  Ron and Stephen had chopped up some dead wood to use at the beach to build a bonfire.  Our son Jeff's family joined us and it was: Priceless!  Hearing the sounds of the beach alone was great - the waves, the sea gulls, the wind.  But hearing the squeals of laughter and delight from the grand children is: Priceless! 

From the youngest who had no fear of the water...

To the oldest of the grandchildren, who worked on a sandcastle...

To some of them in between watching the bonfire Grandpa built...

To our youngest son Stephen and his girlfriend, who helped the little kids with a big sandcastle...

To my husband showing our Boy Scout grandson how to start a bonfire with one match...

 

I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of the love, laughter, and giggles.  Without the Cochlear Implant, I would have heard nothing today at the beach.  I was hesitant to wear it to the beach, but they encouraged me to use it ALL the time, so I did.  I used the ear hook that has the bendable wire to hook under the ear as well as above.  I only waded in shallow water, and most of the time I wore a bandanna over it and my hair, just to be safe. 

 The squeals,

 The quiet conversations,

The splashes,

The constant counting of seven youngsters,

The gentle waves rolling in...

 

When it was time for supper, the requests for hot dogs, the instructions about what I should put on their hot dog buns, the excited, enthusiastic requests for marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey squares to make S'mores... I could have missed all that.  I might have been there, but would not have heard all of it.  I would have missed the "Thank you, Grandma" and "Thank you, Mom" that I heard over and over.

 

As the night air got damper and the wind picked up, I took the sound processor off when we were starting the clean-up and load-up activities, and my oldest grand daughter came and used the sign language she had learned so she could communicate with me while I wasn't hearing, and thanked me.  PRICELESS!!!