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Super-Senior Moments

She’s been back in her apartment for several weeks and is improving in strength and stamina every day. There’s a lot of physical and occupational therapy involved of which she says, “The nurse just worked me out so hard I feel like an old mule.” But still, every day, she answers the bell. Some days she answers it more happily than others but she always answers. Since I live very close by I drop over several times a day to help with meals or to just chat and check on the general welfare.

Her eyesight is not what it was but at 104 few things are what they were. The latest irritating sputter in the machine concerns her hearing. For a few weeks she was convinced that her hearing was fading because she had wax in her ears, but after an appointment with the nurse practitioner revealed no wax at all in the ears, it was off to a visit with the ear doctor. There, after a very extensive hearing test, the good doctor delivered his diagnosis. “You’re 104 years old…”

“What?”

“YOU’RE 104 YEARS OLD AND YOUR EARS DON’T WORK WELL ANY MORE. ”

“What should I do?”

“I’D RECOMMEND A HEARING AID!”

“Oh…”

So the appointment is made to get the hearing aid.

Fast forward two days and I drop by her place to find her sitting in her chair fuming at the TV.

“That’s it! Now it has happened!”

“What’s happened, Mom,” I ask in a calm and quiet voice.

“He told me I was going deaf and now I am! Look at that! Look at the TV! I’ve got the volume up all the way and I can’t hear a word they say! Not a word!”

I glance at the screen.

“You’ve got it on mute.”

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Bill February 1, 2019, 5:48 PM

    Enjoy every minute Gerard you are truly fortunate

  • PA Cat February 1, 2019, 6:40 PM

    Look on the bright side: your Mom can tune out the MSM talking heads more easily than most of us.
    Glad to see she’s still wearing red; it’s a good color for her.

  • Mary Ann February 1, 2019, 6:42 PM

    My Mama has been gone for 20 years. I miss her every day. I have a friend, a Gold Star Grandmother 84 years old, that I visit and talk to a few times a week that makes me feel I’m not quite the oldest generation (She is a master of Mom guilt if you don’t call when you insinuated you would). I have had over the last 10 years more intelligent and relevant conversations with her than most of the people I worked with. Your Mama makes me think of her. God bless you both.

  • captflee February 1, 2019, 6:48 PM

    So very glad to hear of your mom’s progress!
    I second Bill’s sentiment, and having been orphaned at 47, toast your mutual continued good fortune at being together through the maelstrom which recently engulfed y’all. You will both remain in my prayers.

  • Sam L. February 1, 2019, 8:07 PM

    Old mules are tough. Stubborn, too. She just might outlive you, Gerard.

  • Flyover February 1, 2019, 8:12 PM

    I’m glad the thing was on “mute.”

  • Howard Nelson February 1, 2019, 8:34 PM

    Please, please describe the looks on your face and her face when you pronounced the cure, ‘mute.’
    Or leave me imagining her laughing and twinkling with gratitude, love and relief.
    Ah, sweet mystery of life …

  • Dave February 1, 2019, 9:22 PM

    Ah, so sweet. I relish your tales about your Mom and think of mine. We lost her at 96; she would have been 100 on February 26. The attitude is the same, taking and giving no quarter to us lesser beings. As said above, Gerard, treasure her as I treasure the tales about your Mom, and miss mine.

  • Jaynie February 2, 2019, 4:43 AM

    Great story. The ‘old mule’ comment, ha. Spirited one though. You are a good son.

  • H February 2, 2019, 5:38 AM

    Years ago, one of the formerly big three channels had some kinda drama about a meteor shower burning up a wide swath of the United States. My father called these kinds of shows pipe dreams. It was not the sort of program to interest me, but I was aware of it in a vague sort of way. At that time I was living out of state and by chance it aired the customary time for the weekly call home. Mother and I were chatting and she said, isn’t it awful about all those people getting burned up?

    What people, Mother?

    All those people out there in (wherever it was) getting burned up by meteors. It’s horrible.

    I was not sure how to process this, because Mother always took being wrong quite personally. But I finally asked her if she remembered H.G. Wells (she’d heard his famous Martian broadcast as a young ‘un).

    Yeah, War of the Worlds, what’s that got to do with this? Then maybe a five count pause.

    No, she said. Then maybe another five count pause. Dammit, she said. Click, the phone said.

  • waitingForTheStorm February 2, 2019, 8:32 AM

    My wife went to visit her 99 year old mother. Her hearing was almost gone. My wife took her to a hearing aid place. They diagnosed the issue as severe ear wax build up. A short visit to a small clinic and a few minutes later, problem solved. Her medicare paid for the whole procedure. Not suggesting that this is the cause here, just an amusing story. Kudos to the folks at the hearing aid place.

  • JiminAlaska February 2, 2019, 11:07 AM

    Good un, Gerard, however I see ‘the rest of the story’ a bit different than most folks here. When you said; “…got it on mute” I see her grabbing the nearest cushion and tossing it at you, then you both laugh. 😉

  • Hangtown Bob and Peg. February 2, 2019, 11:13 AM

    That’s hilarious. We can just see the whole thing. So glad that she’s back to her spunky self.

  • AesopFan February 2, 2019, 12:51 PM

    I have to share this favorite story of mine; I am saving up the answers for whichever of us goes deaf first. Marion (it was a boy’s name, with the “o”) is a much-older second cousin of Mitt.
    * * *
    President Marion G. Romney’s good-humored love for his wife Ida was manifested in many ways. He delighted in telling of her hearing loss. Once he tried to get Ida to go to her doctor for a hearing check-up, but she didn’t think she needed one. Convinced that there was a problem, but not being able to convince Ida, he finally decided to go see her doctor himself and consult about what should be done.

    President Romney explained, “He asked me how bad it was, and I said I didn’t know. He told me to go home and find out. The doctor instructed me to go into a far room and speak to her. Then I should move nearer and nearer until she did hear.” In this way he could learn how bad the hearing loss was. President Romney went home to try his experiment.

    “Following the doctor’s instructions, I spoke to her from the bedroom while she was in the kitchen—no answer. I moved nearer and spoke again—no answer. So I went right up to the door of the kitchen and said, ‘Ida, can you hear me?’

    “She responded, ‘What is it, Marion? I’ve answered you three times’”

  • Lance de Boyle February 2, 2019, 2:30 PM

    What a delightful gal!

  • Jeff Brokaw February 3, 2019, 6:47 AM

    Hahahahaha well it can happen to the best of us 😁👍

    104 years, man, that is just amazing! I’m 60 soon and it’s hard to imagine another 44 years of the aging process!

  • Nobody Atall February 3, 2019, 10:50 AM

    Please give your mom my regards and felicitations! And maybe bake her some of those fabulous oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, yum!

  • Nori February 3, 2019, 11:51 AM

    Thanks for the update on your Mom, she’s an amazing lady.

    My 88 yr old Mom figured the mute button out, but that “input” button has her flummoxed.
    “I can’t get my tv to work!”
    Me: “Go to input, and make sure it’s on 6.”
    Mom: “But it’s supposed to be 4, it has always been 4!”
    Me: “That was the old cable box,this one needs to be on input 6.”

    She’s had the new cable box for 2 years, but the mystery of input 6 remains.
    And then there’s input 7, for the dvd.
    She gets this look on her face like a puppy watching clothes tumble in a dryer.

    Moms,gotta love ‘em. Dads too. Really miss mine,he was the best.

  • Dr. Mabuse February 4, 2019, 6:32 AM

    I’d cut your Mom some slack: she’s 104. My husband is only 64, and he called me into the kitchen, very worried. The coffee pot was sitting on the stove, and he said, “There’s something wrong with the stove! The burner is producing hardly any heat, and it’s turned almost to full blast!” I looked at it and said, “The dial is pointing at ‘LO’. I’m just keeping the coffee warm.” He looked sheepish and said, “I thought it was turned to ’11’, like on a clock dial.”

  • thud February 6, 2019, 12:44 PM

    Well done that mum!