May 20, 2017

Too Much Going on, For

Me to Have Time to Share

May 20, 2017

Royal Poinciana tree in full bloom

 

Somewhere is the distant past, there was a time that things in my life seemed to go at a snail's pace.  I think that was maybe about 40 years ago, or was it 50?  This blog in many ways was to share about how after I went deaf, my Cochlear implant returned my life to near normal.  During May four years ago, I was deaf and waiting for my Cochlear implant.  Without it, I am sure my life would be a lot different than it is now. 

As the years of usage add up, I find that my early impressions of the Cochlear device have proved to be true.  It is a miracle that someone was able to devise such an amazing piece of medical equipment to allow a deaf person to hear.  It is not perfect, but it sure beats living in a completely quiet world.  Music still is a challenge, but I think there have been improvements.   New or unfamiliar music is too hard for me to process, but old, familiar tunes can often sound almost normal to me.

As the family has adapted to my limitations, they have learned that I can do most of the things I used to do.  Friday morning brought one of the limitations to my attention.  When I remove my sound processor, I have no idea how loudly I am talking.  Sometimes when it is brought to my attention, I realize that I can tell I am straining my voice (but not hearing anything I am saying).  The family has learned to signal me when I get too loud.  This morning, one of our grandsons and I were the first ones up at his house.  I had not yet put on my processor, and as I asked him a question, he took his hand and stuck it out straight (palm down) and lowered the hand.  That is the most common communication the family uses to let me know I am talking too loudly.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to McAllen to attend the ballet recital of a couple of our granddaughters.  We had front row seats in the balcony in the beautiful new Performing Arts Center in McAllen.  It is a lovely facility and the acoustics are amazing.  I could tell when the music was playing, but could rarely pick out the melody.  But that did not keep me from enjoying the time, seeing a great, entertaining, evening of little girls, young ladies, adult women, and a few guys, share their love of dancing with  friends and families.

The girls had taken ballet last year at a different school, and that recital, although well done, showed a different type of dancing.  Our daughter -in-law found a new school for the girls this year and the recital was completely different.  It was happier - more joyful, and more modest in dress and dance.  This was a great place for the girls.  The middle of the three girls dropped out after just a brief time, realizing her talents and joy came from other areas, not dancing, but the other two fully enjoyed their classes and performances.

Since the ballet recital was not over until late, I had gone prepared to spend the night and was glad that I had done so.  There was time to visit with our daughter-in-law who stays on the go all the time, and to chat with all the children.  Our son was out of town.  With all my traveling lately, I have had too little time with this group of grandchildren, but it looks like that will change in the next few weeks.  I may be with them a couple of days at the end of the month and a couple of weekends during June.  We have so much to catch up on.