by Carol-Ann Di Matteo

Created on: September 29, 2009

I am Deaf. I totally get silence. I don't think hearing people really appreciate silence as much as I do. I wear hearing aids in both ears, and I function very well in my daily life with them. What's more? As a Mom, I even use my hearing aids to my advantage. Especially on those crazy days with the kids. You know, those days when they're in that crying/whining/screaming phase - silence is so precious to preserve any mother's sanity.

A couple years ago, I had all three kids in the van with me. Back then, my oldest daughter was nine, and my boy/girl twins were 4. I decided to forgo dinner one evening and opted for fast food drive thru. While waiting in line behind a couple of cars, I turned around and asked my kids what they would like. They all shouted their orders at me as I pulled up to the window. (I can't hear well enough to use the speaker.) In the meantime, the kids are screaming over each other to make sure I know what they want. The lady in the window heard all the commotion in my van and had this expression on her face. Her eyes got bigger than saucers as one of my kids accidentally hit the other one and they both started crying. I swear, her eyebrows were going to meet her hairline if she could raise them any further. I just looked at her with a smile and said "Oh don't worry. I can turn off my hearing aids when I'm done here." The lady just fell into roaring laughter, complete with tears, and she could hardly contain herself while taking my order. I handed her the money with a smile, looked back at my kids to make sure they're okay, then turned down my hearing aids as I pulled away to the next window. As the lady watched me reach up to my ears, she doubled over once again in laughter. I think I made her day....

My husband doesn't care for my advantage as he is hearing. He'll glare me down if I touch my hearing aids while we suffer the kids fighting, yelling, screaming, crying. He says "If I have to hear it, so do you!" My husband shot me a look when I tried to turn them off while we had to listen to Willie Nelson's rendition of "Rainbow Connection" from the Muppets for the thousandth time over a 5 hour drive. It was the only song that kept the twins quiet as babies riding on long trips. Even though it's a very mellow song, driving to that song on repeat for five hours *snore*.

Then there are those noisy environments like restaurants with play areas for kids. They're all squealing, laughing, screaming, yelling, and maybe a couple here and there crying

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