The Little Boy and the Car Turn Signal

Yesterday was Day Three of new sounds for me. Tears of joy and emotion have been flowing every single day since my hookup on Tuesday. Yesterday I was sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Merwin's office waiting for my followup appointment. A little boy came in with his mother and I was drawn to him right away because I am a mother of three boys (and a daughter, too!) He had a little toy truck in his hand and was holding his mom's hand with the other one. He couldn't have been more than three or four years old and started talking to his mother in the most sweetest, innocent, and melodic voice I have EVER heard. It was music to my ears. Tears began to stream down my face because I realized right at that moment what sounds I had missed when our boys were little (they are now grown men). . .I found a Kleenex box across the room and heard the tissues make a "whooshing" sound as I pulled them out! Later, when I shared this with my sister, Kathy, she had tears in her eyes, too, but said, "I will tell you this. . .when your boys were little, they had very sweet little boy voices, too." People have shared with me that having grandchildren is the most wonderful experience a person can have. I know it will be DOUBLE JOY for me someday because I will be able to hear what I missed the first time around!

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." I saw heaven in that little boy yesterday. Is this one of the reasons why Jesus loved the little children so? Because he loved the sounds of their kind, thoughtful, and innocent voices? So, let the children come to me. I want to hold them and hear them. Don't be surprised if you see me working in the nursery again at church or at the park listening to the children on the playground. I want to hear those little voices that I haven't heard before. I "heard" our kids with my hearing aids but not like this. No wonder Mom wanted to come right away when our babies were born. . .not only did she want to bond with them but she wanted to hear them, too.

Ok, now that I have stopped crying, I will write a little more. I LOVE the sound of the turn signal in my car. Now that I can hear it, I will never again forget to turn it off! I am like a child again because I keep playing with it while I'm driving down the road. So, if you see a crazy grown woman driving down the road in a blue SUV with her blinkers on, it's me! Bradley used to irritate me when he was little because he had to check every single thing that moved or made a sound. (He is studying to be a mechanical/robotics engineer at Virginia Tech.) I'm beginning to understand why he did those things as a child because I'm doing those very same things now!

My batteries died yesterday for the first time right after my doctor's appointment. I had no warning so I will need to tell the audiologist to put the warning beep on the processor. They are supposed to last 3 to 5 days but I figured out that I got 43 hours of use from them.

I'm having some other great CI moments and will list them briefly for now:

• flute music on my Christmas PanFlute CD sounds so beautiful and so clear
• high heeled shoes clicking on the floor across the room
• printer printing checks
• word processor/typewriter keys
• the crinkle of the Cheetos bag
• guy at Starbucks sounds really nice!
• dollar bills make a sound when I count them (love the sound of money!)
• Miles Davis Jazz CD - oh my, I can hear all the different instruments playing!

I met Susan for dinner last night before our SHHH (Self Help for Hard of Hearing) meeting and we talked until it was time to go. I was able to get some of my questions answered that I had about my processor and we both shared our CI moments. It is just so nice to have a friend that knows exactly what I am experiencing. She was hooked up to her CI seven months ago and is still hearing new things!

The SHHH meeting was great and very informal. There was a lady there asking LOTS of questions about cochlear implants and three of us were able to give and share some information with the group. I couldn't wait to get home to Steve! He got back from Washington, D.C. about 7:30 p.m. and we had not seen each other since Monday morning. I could hear his bare feet on the area rug in the kitchen as we were talking. He was so happy and excited to hear about my experiences so far! He was able to help me localize some sounds that I had been hearing in the house. So, yesterday was a good day. Amen!