Dinner Party for a Million!

Most of us tend to ignore physical symptoms whenever possible. My husband insists we need one of those chairs attached to our staircase so I can ride up and down instead of moaning and groaning each time I make the trip, while I insist that he needs to have his ears checked so he doesn't have to ask me to repeat everything two or three times.

When I ran across this article by Jan Steele, I couldn't resist showing it to him. Maybe if I agree to the chair on the staircase, he will agree to having his ears checked out. I'll let you know how it goes.

Guest post written by Jan Steele

I love getting together with my husband’s side of the family. We’re both retired now and we’ve got more time on our hands to visit these days, which we’ve been taking full advantage of. He grew up with five siblings, so it’s always a packed house whenever they’re around.

We actually had them all over for dinner the other night, plus their kids and grandkids. I made my famous strawberry shortcake for the occasion—though I definitely didn’t make enough! We were all having a really great time sitting around the dining table.

When I noticed that one of his sisters, Erma, was wearing new Miracle Ear hearing aids, I pulled her aside to ask her about them. I’d been sensing that my hearing had been declining for a while now, and I was really curious to see what she thought of hers. We chatted for a while about how they worked, what they were like and Hearing Aids costs . Turns out, getting them was one of the best things she said she’s ever done.

I have an appointment to see about getting some myself tomorrow, and I’m really excited!

Going back to school

This week-end my husband and I attended our high school class reunion. I won't tell you which reunion it was--suffice it to say everyone there had gray or white hair and most of us moved very slowly.

During the visiting at the picnic table, I noticed my husband and the man on his left side talking louder and louder until they almost drowned out all the other conversation at the table. Afterwards, my husband admitted that it was getting harder and harder to hear conversation, especially when there was other noise or voices around him.

I know this isn't an uncommon problem among our age group and thought this guest post written by Horace Peters might stir some of us oldsters who have noticed that other people don't seem to be speaking clearly or loudly enough to take time to have our hearing checked. It couldn't hurt, and it might help a lot.

Guest post written by Horace Peters

When my wife wanted us to retire in a college town, I thought she was crazy. But then she talked through some of her reasoning, like the walkability of downtown where she was looking at houses and all the arts performances that happened on campus. Deep down I knew she’d probably win out and get her way anyway, so I agreed.

At first I felt a little out of place eating at restaurants filled with college students talking about parties over dinner, but then I got used to it and enjoyed being surrounded by young, active people. It made me want to get out and experience life even more. I also wanted to get in on some of the collegiate action so we started going to some soccer games and plays, and then one day I decided I was going to take a class.

I signed up, bought the books and plopped down in the back of a class of about 30 people for the day of English: Intro to Fiction. But as students were going around and introducing themselves (one thing I didn’t miss about being a student), I was having a hard time hearing them speak. The professor said that this was a discussion-based class so I went home and looked up Hearing Aids. I came across hearingaids.miracle-ear.com and found one on there that I liked.

At least now I don’t have to be the old guy in the front of the class that can’t hear.