Prologue

Below is the prologue for the book. Those of you who know me will recognize this is autobiographical. I know what my book title will be, but I'm not revealing it until it is completed.

  

PROLOGUE

Several years ago, someone asked me what it was like to live with a physical disability. Strangely, I never considered my hearing impairment to be a handicap. The official diagnosis was Bilateral Neural Sensory Hearing Loss, a birth defect. It was a mouthful that I was proud to learn and pronounce accurately at the age of five. I’ve always thought it to be a gift. I felt it made me unique, setting me apart from my friends. I sometimes felt I had special abilities and I was privy to experiences no one else I knew had. In high school, I could read lips from across the room and spy on what our cute crushes or enemies were saying. As a loyal friend, it was my pleasure to provide this service. If I was in trouble at home, I turned off my hearing aids to shut out the verbal scolding. That didn’t stop my mother – she was on to me and would reach over to turn them back on. Noisy roommates in college were never a problem if I needed to study. While driving, if my kids were fighting in the backseat, I could simply turn myself off in order to enjoy a quiet drive home. To this day, I am a sound sleeper - I can never complain about my husband's snoring. I can share with my husband what the coaches are saying while we're watching a Steelers game on TV. Of course, I’m thankful my husband serves as my set of ears in case of an emergency in the middle of the night. I’m not so sure he is as thrilled to provide this service full-time, but he has been on duty for 18 years now. My son will occasionally start a conversation with me shortly after I wake up only to discover I don’t have my hearing aids on yet by the dumbfounded expression on my face. Without missing a beat, he will walk over to my dresser, hand my aids to me, and say, “Mom, are your ears on now?”