It was a typical day in mid summer
The temperature was easily 95 *F (35*C) outside with at 80% humidity. The TV kept blaring about a heat advisory. "Do Not go out unless it is critical" the voice continuously states, and then when you glance at the tv, the captions cover the banner with the vital information. Just an annoying accessibility flaw within the system.
Violet sits at the long oak dining room table with her charcoal in one hand and a wadded up piece of paper in the other, to shade in the areas where only a little bit of darkness is needed.Todays' goal is a portrait of her father when he was a young man. The photos do not do him justice to what she remembers and above all she wants to capture the spirit of her dad in a drawing. He was an adventurer, a mechanic, a terrible test taker, and a wonderful dad, but the pictures that she had felt flat like it was impossible to capture all of that in one shot.She was working to ignore the hum in her ears.Its too hot to go outside, swimming is no longer an option and all of her friends have moved away just like any other summer with a military family.
The hum isn't the fly that is banging against the screen in the window, its not the tv, and its not another person in the room as she is just at home by herself.
No, unfortunately that hum and other sounds are always in her head, you see she has tinnitus. People think that when you have tinnitus its just a hum, but her type has many other sounds that only she can hear.Sometimes its like a whistle of a tea kettle, sometimes its a beeping sound. Other days, like today its just a high pitched hum and there is no way to really block it out, but she tries to focus on what she is doing. One of the joys of being a late deafened adult. It is immensely difficult to focus some days, and today is shaping into a dozy.
"Maybe today would be a good day to go to the library, people don't expect me to talk to them there", she mused as she cleaned off the table and washed her hands at the white farm sink. The water and soap mixed together to form a greyish water that reminded her of the winter days of her childhood.
"Now, where did I put my keys and my cane?" Normally she remembered to put the keys in the basket next to the door, but when she had gotten home yesterday, the phone had been ringing and while it was a massive challenge to talk on the phone, she was expecting a phone call from her daughter. "O well, guess I will have to retrace my steps, now where to start?" after a brief search in the house she found them in the cupboard with a can of tomato soup.
"Now, where is my cane?" you see in addition to losing her hearing quickly, she had also had some damage to a nerve in her cranium that affected her balance. She rapidly decided that if she was going to need to walk with a cane that it should be fabulous. "Oh! I remember, I left it in the car, I can see it from the window, after all, it is Pink"
Just then the phone flashed the number on the phone display was her husbands. He normally texted so it was a surprise that he was calling in the middle of the day. His job required him to work very odd hours.They had been married over 28 years though, so they made it work. The sudden hearing loss took time to come to terms with, and some days were easier than others. "Hello?" " Hi Honey, I am going to be off work early, do you want me to bring anything home for dinner?", "nope, its all in the slow cooker, we are having cola pot roast and salad, well actually, if you want to pick up dessert, that would be marvelous." " Can do, Love you, see you later." Click.
To be continued. (maybe)
