Apparently I think when you have a real job you can no longer go to the doctor, because I scheduled appointments to check all my teeth, both my eyes and one of my ears three days in a row in anticipation of next week’s exciting adventure into full-time employment.  Huck, who loves going to the dentist, shared this bit of wisdom after my first appointment on Wednesday: “To enjoy the dentist, you shouldn’t be in the mood for something savory and wonderful.  You have to be in the mood for something clean and hard.”

During Huck’s birthday party at the skating rink last Saturday my sister Jeni leaned down to tell me something in my left ear.  For 16 years I’ve always offered my right ear during these moments, but this time I didn’t.  It took me a few seconds to realize that I could actually hear what she said, even with the loud music and children.  The next day I noticed how strangely loud my own whistle was inside my head.  That night I heard Troy’s top secret fart next to me in bed.  It turns out my partial deafness was sometimes a blessing.

Today I trekked across the state during an all day Friday the 13th torrential downpour to see Dr. Gardner for my four week follow-up appointment, all the while praying my parents weren’t watching The Weather Channel.  I learned that I am a slow healer because of my problematic eustachian tube, which was the reason my first two surgeries didn’t work. Even so, the graft did its job and I no longer have a hole in my ear drum!  I return in two months to make sure it’s 100 percent healed and have another hearing test. In the meantime, I can hear in ways I haven’t been able to since January of 1999, which is pretty savory and wonderful.

To give you an idea of just how long ago that was, look at this fresh-faced, gigantic-mouthed couple taken a few months before the fateful ear infection.  Oh, time.  You are a dickens.