on hearing loss and bon bons

I was talking to my sister, Katie, who was stoked, but first she was bummed. So let’s talk about that first so you get the whole story. She was bummed because the apartment complex she’s thinking of living temporarily this summer has a No Pets policy and she couldn’t bear to think of living without her son, Jack.

Then she was stoked because she found out they have an exception for service dogs. Jack isn’t a service dog (yet) but she’s going to register him as one because she was recently diagnosed with mild hearing loss. So she qualifies, which would make him qualify. And because she’s super honest she was reading the description of a service dog and it said they help their master be aware of their surroundings. She was very happy to see that because Jack indeed helps her be aware of her surroundings. Not just of things like squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional hot dog wrapper tossed on the streets of Baltimore, but also of things like when the doorbell rings.

When she told me this it made me think of my own mild hearing loss. I said, “Oh crap. When Ryan goes to kindergarten, I’m in trouble. He’s the one who tells me when someone’s at our door or when my phone’s ringing. The other day he actually said, and I kid you not, “Mom, someone texting you.”  The kid knows the difference between the sound of someone calling and someone texting and that just blows me away.

But back to what I was saying.

I realized that when Ryan goes to kindergarten I’m never going to have to answer the door or the phone because we know SHE isn’t going to tell me if someone’s trying to get ahold of me.

At first I was a little panicky, like, Who’s going to help me know someone’s here? and then I was all like, Hey, I won’t know someone’s here! I can eat my bon bons and watch HGTV in peace. Because we know that’s what I do all day anyway.