Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: deafness
One Beautiful Day
I took out the thin folded $20 that I keep in the little slide drawer on the back of my phone and handed it to the bartender who’d just done an especially generous pour of Chardonnay for me. He held the twenty in his… Continue Reading “One Beautiful Day”
Green Light
The blind lead the blind for a reason, I guess. They go where they need to go even if they can’t see where that is. In the time it took for the light to change from red to green, the slim woman with the… Continue Reading “Green Light”
The Lifeline of Social Media
For years, I couldn’t communicate the way other people communicate. I couldn’t talk on the phone, and I couldn’t navigate most conversations outside of those with my husband and a very small group of other people whose voice pitch and tone were discernible by… Continue Reading “The Lifeline of Social Media”
Talk to Me
[Written six months before my first cochlear implant in 2015. Now, with the second implant on the horizon, I’m remembering how things were, how I’d created the world’s tiniest world.] I love my dogs more now that I’m going deaf. They’re not interested in… Continue Reading “Talk to Me”
Whispers
We were driving across town today and, just like that, my cochlear implant died. So instantly, in the space between one stoplight and another, I was back to being deaf. Not hard of hearing, not hearing impaired, deaf except for maybe 10% of sound.… Continue Reading “Whispers”
Apology
Sorry, you’ve become Too much trouble to talk to Shouting exhausts me __________ Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
Green Light
The blind lead the blind for a reason, I guess. They go where they need to go even if they can’t see where that is. In the time it took for the light to change from red to green, the slim woman with the… Continue Reading “Green Light”
Twenty Things That Might Happen
If all goes as planned, two weeks from now I’ll be recovering from cochlear implant surgery. I’m not crazy about the idea of having surgery and part of me worries that I’ve been hearing impaired so long it’s become a lifestyle, my own little… Continue Reading “Twenty Things That Might Happen”
Life This Morning
My people don’t talk in the waiting room. They are already tired from asking directions at the front desk and figuring out the receptionist’s instructions. Once they are sitting down and waiting to be called, they want to be left alone. After all these… Continue Reading “Life This Morning”
Mine to Lose
Besides canoeing the hidden lakes of the Upper Peninsula and my Kindle crack habit, mood management is my primary avocation. It takes less time than it used to and I’m figuring out why. I’ve learned that I don’t need to let every bad feeling… Continue Reading “Mine to Lose”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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