Listening without Hearing: March 13, 2014

A Nice Long Visit With Friends

Thursday March 13, 2014

When I was in Girl Scouts many years ago, we used to sing a song that went, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." Over the years I have made many friends, but today I had the joy of spending the afternoon with two old friends that I met in junior high school about 56 years ago. They are not old in age or actions, but in the longevity of our friendships. Both of these friends were happy, cute, junior high students. One tells me she was very shy back then, but I don't remember noticing that. I just thought she was cute, nice, and fun to be around. The other had a very beautiful, quick smile (and dimples), and an infectious laugh that won her many friends.

One of these ladies, Velma, lives here in town and is retired. The other, Ellie, lives in the Houston area. The three of us were in band together and back then, if you were in the band, that is where you spent your time and that is where most of your friendships grew. We suffered together in the summer heat while practicing marching on the stadium parking lot and in the un-airconditioned band hall for long rehearsals. We were yelled at by our directors. They demanded perfection, and pretty well got it. But the reward for all that hard work, as a member of the Brownsville Golden Eagle Band, was some awesome trips and we collected a lot of wonderful memories.

Those same directors who yelled at us during rehearsals and made us feel like scum sometimes, slept outside our hotel room doors to protect us on a trip to Monterrey, Mexico, where our accommodations were in what turned out to be a hotel that was still under construction. They escorted us down the busy Chicago streets as we went shopping while the snow flurries swirled around us.

It was so good to be able to HEAR what my friends had to say. We met at my office shortly after noon and went to a Subway shop not too far from the office. Velma first headed to a table but told me it was right under a speaker and she thought the music might be a problem for me. Thank you, Velma! I can't tell that there is music coming through a speaker like that, I can just tell it is noisy, but can't identify the noise as music. So we chose a table in a far corner and she said although there was a speaker near that table, it did not appear to be turned on. The three of us sat around the small table and ate and talked. The eating took maybe 30 minutes. The talking took 4 hours. We had such a wonderful visit.

The focus was not on my hearing (or non-hearing) status. It really was not much of an issue. I did have to have them repeat some things, but we were able to just talk about their lives. We talked about friends in high school and how for the most part, the friends in high school who were nice, good kids, are now very nice, kind adults. It was a great visit and nice not to spend the time with me recounting my situation. How good to just be able to talk to friends. You may not realize what a blessing that can be!

We stayed and talked until about 4:30, arriving back at my office in time for me to put things away and go home! My kind of day! During the morning, Ron had been out of the office and our grandson was with me, so all around, it was a very good day!