WordPress sent out a notice that they are starting a weekly writing challenge.  Here’s the first one.

Weekly Writing Challenge: From Mundane to Meaningful

I got my hearing checked not so long ago.  I thought maybe I wasn’t hearing things as well as I used to.  One clue was that I found myself telling my husband more and more often “I can’t hear you.”

Like when I am washing dishes, have the water running in the sink and he’s in the other room saying something (I think).  I tell him, “I can’t hear you with the water running.”

Like when I’m just getting home from work, closing the garage door and still in the doorway between the garage and the house and he’s in another room saying something (I think).  I have to tell him, “I can’t hear you with the garage door noise.”

Like when I lean over the paper shredder, feed some paper through and hubby is in another room saying something (I think).  I tell him, “I can’t hear you with the shredder running.”

Like when I’m in the shower with the water running and he’s in the other room saying something (I think).  I have to tell him, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Actually I can hear something, just not well enough to understand what he is saying.  So I got my hearing checked.

The nurse takes me back to the testing area and asks me all kinds of questions.  Funny, I can understand her just fine.  The technician situates me in the booth with the headphones and I press the button each time I hear the tone.  The results show that my hearing is within normal range.  That doesn’t mean that I haven’t lost any hearing, as they don’t have anything to compare it to.  It just means that my hearing level is “normal.”

In talking with the doctor after the test, I explain all the situations where I can’t hear what my husband is saying.  “What about that?” I ask.

“Without actually being there,” he says, “I’m guessing that contributing factors are that you’re married and your husband is male.”

I just look at him.  “Can I have my money back?”