Hearing - or not......

A Dollar’s Worth

By Alisa Dollar

I’ve talked many times about getting older.

I’ve spoken about arthritis often because that’s my thorn in flesh so to speak. I have never touched on hearing because that isn’t one of my problems.

Though I always thought husband had selective hearing, I realized too late in the game he really couldn’t hear.

He finally gave into the ego and price and along with his insurance paid a nice sum for a pair of ears.

They work so well I have to be very careful what I really don’t want him to hear.

It’s been an adjustment for him as well.

I didn’t understand he could hear, but everything was extremely distorted. I don’t know how many times I repeated the same thing over and over and over until I thought I’d scream.

Okay, I’ll admit. I did scream.

I just didn’t realize how helpless he felt.

Until the ears came into the family and it was then I realized how much he’d missed. Not just TV, but interactions with people.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to not hear someone directly in front of you. I wondered why he often let his gaze drift, thinking how rude that must seem to the person speaking to him.

Husband is a researcher of everything, especially if it concerns money. If I have the money and I want it, I buy it. One of the many reasons I drive him crazy.

Not him. Apparently unbeknownst to me, he’d been secretly researching hearing aids. Not to get into a hearing aid dispute, he chose to go with a company that had a representative in town and not the local one who sent weekly pamphlets in the mail.

For him, it was a good choice because he felt he had the upper hand in the transaction. It’s also not much fun to sell to a person who knows more about the product than some of the salespersons.

Luckily for husband they clicked. The representative enjoyed the fact that husband knew intricate details to discuss.

Many dollars later, it’s still the right decision.

This is not to say it’s been easy. Hearing aids are an adjustment like anything else and I’ve watched him go through many.

However, tenacity and will have won and overall he’s a happy camper with his purchase.

So am I.

I don’t scream near as much.

I do whisper though. J