(Originally posted in Facebook on February 26, 2019)
Yesterday was a good day – and I’m taking my blessings where I can find them. The sun shone all day . . . and after 10 days in a row of nothing but rain and gloomy skies, the sun was a welcome sight. It wasn’t all that warm, but it was beautiful to see. M not only went to work, but actually STAYED AT WORK ALL DAY! I was stunned. I completely expected to hear from him at any moment that he had started feeling sick and had come home, but he made it. Now I’m hopeful for today. And finally, I talked to my mom this morning and she and my dad are getting along just fine. The insurance people have already gotten a disaster recovery company to work on her condo and the wheels are in motion to get all that straightened out.
Wow.
Now, that’s not to say the day was perfect – there’s no such thing, but it was nice to have a really good day, for a change.
When I got home from work last night, M was watching his usual afternoon television, “How the Universe was Made.” It’s usually that or “Air Disasters” or something else he’s found on the Science Channel. When he’s watching a show, I’ll offer to go upstairs to the bedroom TV, but he insists that I stay in the den and we’ll find something to watch together.
I’ve noticed in the last few months that, no matter what we’re watching, he’ll invariably put on his headphones and start listening to music. And it’s always the same playlist – his ipod playlist of 1980s songs. If I ask him about changing the channel, he’ll tell me that he’s watching the show – but you know there’s no way he can be watching it and really paying attention if he’s listening to music.
On the rare occasion when he watches a show or movie without the headphones, he’ll ask me to repeat something from the show – “What did he say?” or “What was that?” and I’ll say to him, “if you can’t hear it, turn up the volume.” Then he’ll tell me he can hear it just fine. So then I’m left to wonder – can he actually hear it, but he wants me to tell him what’s going on? Or can he NOT hear it and doesn’t want to admit it?
We’re both getting older and we’re from that generation that turned up the music as loud as we could stand it and got as close to the speakers at concerts as we could. I’ve noticed that the volume on the TV and radio is louder for us than it used to be. Is this issue for him a product of age or something more?