Growing Old is Fun(ny)

May 26, 2017

We've had a bit of a hearing aid crisis around here ever since my friend Paul and I covenanted to pray for healing of our hearing loss. Perhaps God is taking me up on these prayers. Last Saturday I was working in the backyard clearing some branches from the tree we had taken down a few weeks ago, dragging them down to the brush pile by the creek. I was throwing them on top of the pile when one errant branch caught my left ear and flipped my hearing aid into the knee high grass and weeds. Of course, the hearing aid is grey, exactly matching the color of the stones and gravel in which the weeds were growing. I had no idea how far that branch had tossed the device, but at $2,000 each, you can bet I searched frantically, methodically, and minutely, covering every square inch of the area. After about 45 minutes, I was about to offer a $50 reward to the grandchild who found it, when I tried a different area, and found it hiding nearly beneath my feet. 

I was thanking God and remembering my friend Harry, who almost lost one of his hearing aids in the mountains of Cuba, only to find it hiding at the bottom of his pack when he was finally able to search it completely at the Casa Particular where we stayed prior to heading back to the states.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Linda had just showered and was ready for bed when I came upstairs for the same. As I laid my left hearing aid on the stand by the side of the bed, I accidentally bumped the diffuser, scattering its component parts all over the place. As I picked them up, I noticed my hearing aids were not on the stand. I hunted under the bed, under the stand, and all along the carpet, to no avail. Linda joined in the search. We found the left one, but the right eluded our efforts.

At this point, you need to picture our bed. I bought it for Linda for Christmas two years ago. It's blonde carved oak, beautifully figured, but it sits high enough that we can fit a six inch storage box under it. So Linda is lying on her stomach, fingers barely touching the floor when she says offhandedly, "Is it still in your ear?" I touched my ear. 

"I wondered why I was hearing you so well," I answered. She started laughing hysterically until she tried to get up. 

"I can't move," she exclaimed. Her arms weren't long enough for her to push herself off the floor. She lay there like a fish out of water as it was my turn to laugh. "Help me!" she cried. 

"Not on your life!" I laughed. "This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time." She finally wiggled her way back on the bed as we both laughed till we were almost crying. Growing old is fun if you know how to do it.