What did you say?

My husband wears hearing aids in both ears, but even without them he has amazing hearing powers. Even sitting in a hot bath, with the bathroom door closed, he can hear me open the cupboard door to sneak out the chocolate chips for a snack. He can hear the cat jump up onto the sofa and somehow senses when our neighbor walks in her yard up the street. How he does it I cannot tell. Even wearing my own hearing aids, I can hardly hear the telephone ring. When my husband speaks to me I have to be right in front of him and listen carefully to make out the words.
I will admit that he has the better hearing aids, because to compensate for his vision loss, we purchased very expensive ones for him, and paid quite a bit more for his than for mine. But he seldom wears them and gets along just fine without them. I, on the other hand, faithfully wear mine and probably wouldn't hear anything at all without them.
My own hearing loss happened when I was about six or seven, and had a severe ear infection. It caused me problems all down through the years, in high school and later in college. In high school, in order to hear the teacher, I sat in the front row of seats, while all of the rest of the class naturally sat in rows behind me. I can still hear the rustling and snickering behind me, which caused me to think that I was the cause for merriment. I probably wasn't but that's how I felt.
Since I couldn't tell how loud I was talking, I developed a loud voice which carried farther than was intended, getting me into trouble again and again. At work, before I got my hearing aids, I would sometimes answer inappropriately since I had not heard the words addressed to me correctly. It was quite an awakening when I first got my aids and could hear footfalls on gravel and birds singing. Now I need new ones and will have to try to get them soon.
I am lazy tonight, so I will make this a short blog. We had a lovely day here today, with hummingbirds visiting the feeder every couple of minutes. Hope I have an exciting dream tonight. We'll see.