It’s happening again. Someone I love has packed their bags. You’d think since my hearing loss I’d be used to it by now, but the truth is, it still hurts like hell.
One feels as if you’re worth ten cents a pound discarded like an old shoe, after waiting for it to finally drop, seeing its coming.
First communication lessens so it’s harder to make plans.
Busy Busy Busy…is the chronic excuse, just with other people they’d prefer to be with than you. You immediately know it’s due to your altered state of having to ask to have things repeated and, could we go to a quieter place? You’ve just become too much trouble and not enough fun anymore. And on occasion speak loudly, though unintentionally and always severely apologetic, still an embarrassment across the board.
The tears I’ve shed may become legendary because I really love this person whose own faults have never remotely deterred me.
But on a brighter note, someone who’s been absent unexpectedly showed up with flowers in a limo no less, like a knight in leather pants and an Electric Lady T-shirt, to whisk Helen Keller away for the weekend for a belated birthday celebration.
In my nightgown, it being midnight the hour Sir Lancelot travels, thought for a second before saying her usual no, packing her vintage overnight bag flying down the stairs not waiting for the elevator. Montauk here we come, where we spent the nicest two days at a private house, on the beach where I read, drank Old Granddad Sours, my knight’s specialty, while he cooked wild salmon and fresh corn on the grill.
We were all alone except for a discreet woman who came while we slept to replenish our needs. Think room service on the ocean. They say, when God shuts a door he opens a window. Well this time, he blew the roof off the place.
I kept crying I was so happy.
The simplicity of it soothed my deepest feelings especially when he sang, Oh Susanna, to me on his guitar, and said, I was still the prettiest, funniest, sweetest thin girl he knows, which could have been whisky induced, but we’ll take it anyway, even on the rocks.
I came home rested and restored, my sadness put aside, sitting down to pen this essay.
SB
Good things come to those who wait…So glad those sad tears were traded in for happy ones! 😉 ~Elle
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Just what the doctor ordered.
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Always follow the doctor’s orders!
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Yes ma’am. 🙂
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FABULOUS! SO WONDERFUL TO HEAR SUCH A BIT OF CHEERFUL HAPPY NEWS!!
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It’s like I won Lotto. Wish I could have bottled the sound of the surf and seagulls. 🙂
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What a wonderful surprise, with perfect timing.
Susannah, it’s so disappointing when a ‘friend’ bails, but think of the new ones who have come aboard, like Mimi.
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Funny you should mention Mimi who I miss so. I’ve also befriended another neighbor, Max, who gave me my new mezuzah for my front door. It’s that door closes, window opens thing again Skinny. 🙂
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Your friend sounds like one of the people who just know when the right time is to swoop in and make you feel better. Not sure why someone dumps friends because they have a disability. We have a morbidly obese (seriously) friend who we see often. He’s work because he can’t walk well. There are things that we don’t do with him (anything that requires walking) and will talk frankly about that. However, we go to plays with he and his wife and do dinner dates frequently. My husband did a baseball game with him once and said never again. The walk to and from the handicapped parking was more than he could do and it took over an hour. He doesn’t use a wheelchair, walker or cane. He just prefers to limit his walking. I wish he would lose weight but that’s for his health rather than my convenience. BTW my brother has had hearing issues for the last 30 years. It’s a family joke (yes we can be cruel) that he answers the wrong question. He is included in everything and I wouldn’t think of avoiding him because he can’t hear me. For many years he felt like he was missing out on everything. He has adjusted and doesn’t do some things because of it (noisy restaurants, plays, movie theatres) but still enjoys a lot of activities. My sister-in-law swears he uses it to get out of stuff! Can’t wait to hear more about Max.
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Thanks for this. Frankly, I feel people just don’t want to be bothered. The couple of stalwarts I still have do and never make me feel bad about anything. I’m still me even if it’s a lesser version.
Max is funny and talks a lot. She sadly isn’t here much, this being her city place, but when she is, we have a nice visit. A grace.
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You’re not a lesser version just a different one.
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I’ll that that. 🙂
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I’m so happy for you for the latter experience, although grieved with you for the former.
We have a Montauk near here, a historic house named for the place on Long Island. Probably not as beautiful as there, though, since there’s not ocean within a thousand miles of here.
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Love your first two sentences. Couplets of concern. It is lovely land without question. Rustic still. No wonder the Indians graced it for so long.
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So pleased you found succor. Hope he comes back soon.
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He’s a fleeting presence in my life…has always been.
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To many more getaways Susannah….
Mike
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This experience is right off of a movie screen and I couldn’t be happier that it happened to YOU!
As for the friendships, I was just having this same conversation with my sister last night, both of us experiencing that blow you describe.
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Maybe it’s age. We become biodegradable. No one seems to care anymore…sigh
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a belated happy birthday to you… so very sorry for your friends walking away… that hurts. being married to a man who does not hear well, I cannot see what the problem is. Yes, he talks very loud at times, but, I find, so do I.. Our daughter calls us the noisy grandparents… quiet places are so much nicer to enjoy the drink, the company and the moment. So glad you got whisked away, sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this post. ❤
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I’m sure you have better things to do then to read random blogs. But I thank you, as always.
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No, reading blogs helps me regain my sanity, you have no idea!
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I also have to say, as I have thought about it the past two minutes, yours is not a random blog I read, I purposely go to your blog and read it when I get a moment. I dont’ want to just give it a cursory glance, I like to sit and read yours. It’s like picking up a familiar book, you want to soak it all in.
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You flatter me much too much. Alas, I just had someone tell me I should end it…people are sick of it.
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Don’t listen to them. If they don’t want to read it, then they have that option. You are a good writer, you give people something to think about and to laugh and shed a tear or two over. To me, that’s a sign you are doing what writers are supposed to do. Don’t listen to them…
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Am trying very hard not to, but I’m a sensitive being so I’d like to just hide under the bed…forever
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but, if you are under the bed, where will the dust bunnies live?
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I’ll have roommates. 🙂
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hahaha! you are too funny! Mental picture of you crouched under the bed covered in dust bunnies who are talking to you….
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🙂
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you inspired my post today… ❤ thanks.
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