December 15, 2014

Looking at Christmas Lights

 in the Neighborhood

December 15, 2014

First:  This is NOT our house.  We did not put any Christmas lights out in front of the house this year.  The only decorations at our house are IN the house. Tonight, I decided to take a drive through our neighborhood and see what the others had done to their homes.  Some are outstanding.  Some are strange.  Many, like ours are dark outside.  A few had suffered from today's heavy winds - things were blown over.  Each one that was decorated is unique and a treat.  Thank you, neighbors for making our street prettier than I am making it this year.

In Texas, even our bears are BIG!  

This morning I woke up with a very bad headache.  I got ready quickly to go to the office and then sat down in the recliner and told Ron to wake me before he left.  He did.  I didn't get up; I went back to sleep and slept for another 1 1/2 hours and felt good when I woke up.  Once I got to the office, I worked on a few things - like balancing the cash drawer, filling some key hooks, filing some paperwork, mailing a couple of cards, etc.

Ron said he would be in the office so I left to pick up a prescription for Mom and took it to her house.  When I returned to the office it was time for my lunch.  After lunch I got out my laptop, but I could not get into Facebook or aol.com.  Ron tried several things but was having trouble with his own computer.  We are both about at our wits' ends with our computer situations.  He was trying to order his Mom's Christmas gift, but could not get on to his Amazon account. 

Ron had called and gotten me an appointment to get my hair cut.  I got there and as I got out of the car, a car came speeding down the street - just missing my car, and parked in front of the hairdresser's home/shop.  He ran in and as I came in the door he was talking to the lady.  I was right on time for my appointment.  It turns out he was 15 minutes late, but convinced her to take him - because he was in a hurry!

After I got my hair cut, I was about to leave and the lady asked me to wait because she had a question.  It turns out that one of her customers has recently gone deaf and she had told him about me and he was eager to find out who did my surgery, etc.  I gave her a couple of the cards I carry with my blog address and email address and told her to give him one and keep one in case someone else needed one.  We talked about it for a while and then I left to go by Mom's house and see how she was doing.  She was not up when I was there earlier. 

After making arrangements with Mom to pick her up at 6:30 to go get a bite to eat and do some walking/shopping, I came home to wash my hair.  I sewed on two Christmas gifts and then went to pick up Mom.  We had a good supper at Chick-fil-A with what seemed like a good portion of the town, (they were very busy!) and then went to a store where she could do some walking while I did a little Christmas shopping.  I only found one small item, but that is one more thing to mark off my list.  We had a good visit and I took her home about 8:30. 

At home I was delighted to find Ron cleaning the kitchen that I had ignored last night.  I really appreciated him doing that for me.  There is so much I need to be doing these days that cooking and cleaning are falling way down on the list of priorities. 

It was 9:00 by the time I got home.  Again, I am tired, but two things today especially touched me and brightened my day.  The first was when my hairdresser asked for information about my Cochlear Implant to pass on to another client.  All along, I have been willing to pass on information about my situation in hopes of helping someone else.  Sadly, I won't be the last person to go deaf.  If I can help the next one in any, I want to.  In the previous sentence, I started to say, "...last person in Brownsville to go deaf", but I realize that this blog has taken my situation and story far past Brownsville, with 79 countries now having readers of this blog.  (The most recently added is Bangladesh.)

The second situation brought tears to my eyes.  It was a note in a Christmas card from half way around the world.  The lady said that reading my blog gave her the courage to go to the doctor and find out why she was going blind in one eye.  Her situation is totally different than mine, but some things she read in my blog, lead her to not give up, but to keep searching for help for her problem.  I am so thankful that she sought that help and that she will very soon be having surgery in hopes of reversing her situation.  My prayers are with her and her surgeon.

God knew that I needed encouragement today.  I enjoy writing this blog, but my prayer is that somehow it is making a difference.  Then I hear from someone on the other side of the world who is struggling and it is all worth it.  Many of you have shared that you have learned from it how better to help your friends and family members who have lost a lot of their hearing.  For each one of you who is trying harder to understand the needs of a hearing impaired person, "God bless you!"  As Christmas comes, maybe you will be seeing Grandma or Uncle Joe who may be hard of hearing.  Please take a few extra minutes to sit and talk with them.  Notice if they are feeling left out.  Just let them know you care.  Tell them a funny story about your kids, or whatever; just keep trying to communicate!  Write notes if you have to, but make sure they are a part of the laughter and fun.