Donna Reed Died

I was talking with my son this morning when I heard my wife call out from the other room "Donna Reed died."  A few seconds passed and then once more she said " Donna Reed died."

While I thought to myself this is quite sad, I believed she had passed away many years ago. And even if my wife's announcement was accurate, why did she feel the necessity to so advise us, as though it were some emergent matter? I mean It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie and I am close to tears even thinking about it now, but this news could definitely have waited until my wife was face to face with me.

The answer became apparent in the next instant. Because, as was explained to me, what had been said was not notification of the demise of a beloved actress, but rather my wife's frustration with the interruption of her undertaking. You see, the rather loud voices of my son and I in conversation had elicited not one, but two, "I'm trying to read guys."

No longer can I enter crowded restaurants with hope of comprehending the words of anyone more than an arm's length away. Any event I attend where there is music playing within a football field from me means I will spend the time nodding and smiling at comments that escape the grasp of my ears. My son often complains that I play the television at near sonic boom levels. 

To all those wondering, Donna Reed passed away 38 years ago, at 65 years old. Maybe she was too young to have experienced the hearing problems now facing me as I meander through my days with a puzzled look on my face unsure as to whether I am being informed of some issue of great magnitude or just that my shoes are untied.