Verla is a library regular of mine, and she is deaf as a post. A post that yells a lot. Last week she got a $39 hearing aid off the internet, and now she can hear her own voice for the first time in decades. Her head spun around at the sound of the elevator dinging like she was one of those dogs in Up when they see a squirrel. Is that the elevator? All these years riding it up and down and she never knew it made noise.
She grinned as she told us about hearing a toilet flush and barely recognizing it. They sounded so different last time she could hear.
The world she has lived in for 74 years is suddenly full of wonders.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
What's the worst that could happen?
When it's time to step back from your life and get some perspective, there are many ways to do it. Vacations are good. So are new skills, new hobbies, old friends. Prayer. Deep conversations over expensive beer.
But what if that's not enough? Suppose you had no obligations that couldn't wait a few months, no partners or children who expected you to stick around, and the urgent need for a change of scenery, both outside and in. Are you willing to make a run for the boundaries of your life?
That's me today, and my wanderer's heart is eying South America. I aim to get uncomfortable for a while, to land on new soil with only part of a plan, to force feed my brain the Spanish language, and to remind myself that life will always be stressful, but sometimes we can choose more memorable causes.
What's the worst that could happen? Doing nothing.
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