Some things are not funny. One of those is hearing loss.

I was blindsided after I got hearing aids the first time when a friend made fun of me over it.

Those expensive hearing aids served me well for about seven years. When they ceased to work, I could not afford to replace them.

Six years have passed, and I recently decided to buy MUCH cheaper hearing aids from one of those membership warehouse stores. What did I have to lose but $1,499 this time? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to what my first pair of hearing aids cost, not to mention that I had to periodically pay for replacement batteries. Thank goodness my new ones recharge in a little box every night!

I was once again caught off guard a couple of weeks ago when a friend (a different one) thought it was hilarious to mouth silent words in my direction since I have hearing aids.

Where do adults get off making fun of those of us who have lost hearing?

It is a widely mistaken understanding that hearing loss is just the loss of ability to hear sounds below a certain volume. Volume is only part of the problem. Hearing loss is the loss of the ability to understand certain letters/sounds of the alphabet. In addition, some people lose the ability to hear bass sounds, some lose the ability to hear high-pitch sounds, and some of us lose the ability to hear somewhere in the middle. The electronic diagram of that sort of hearing loss resembles what a cookie looks like after someone has taken a bite out of it.

Hearing is a precious gift from God, along with eyesight, the ability to walk and move our arms, and feel a soft summer breeze on our faces.

I would never make fun of someone who was losing their sight or someone who has become paralyzed… and I doubt my two friends would either. Therefore, it baffles me that they both thought it was funny that I have hearing loss.

I mention this today to remind each of us to stop before we speak or laugh about someone else’s health problems.

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Hurricane Helene Update on Western North Carolina

Just to give you an idea about the recovery situation 53 days after the storm hit western NC…

Roads: Interstate 40 is still closed near the TN line. As of Friday, of the 1,329 roads that were closed in September due to Hurricane Helene, 270 remain closed.  The last report I heard said the NC DOT hopes to open the westbound lanes of I-40 to two-way traffic (but probably not trucks over a certain size) on New Year’s Day. Rebuilding and opening the eastbound lanes will take years.

Water system in Asheville: The City of Asheville Water Resources serves about 160,000 people in Buncombe and Henderson counties. They are still under a Boil Water order; however, if three days of water testing expected to be completed today gives good results, it is possible that the Boil Water Notice will be lifted in a couple of days.

Blue Ridge Parkway: There is still no estimated date for all the parkway in NC to be reopened. Approximately 150 miles of the parkway remains completely closed. Another 15 miles of the road are subject to partial closures and one-lane traffic as paving is done.

Public School Systems: All the affected counties continue to struggle with bus routes due to so many road closures.

How you can help a family business: The Avery family in Newland, Avery County, NC owns Trinity Tree Company. The farm has been in their family since the 1700s. They grow Fraser Fir Christmas trees. On September 24 their farm was decimated by Hurricane Helene. They lost 60,000 Christmas trees along with a house, barn, office, and their equipment. (That’s not a typo: sixty thousand.)

They are selling “table top” trees from the undamaged tops of some of their trees, Christmas wreaths, and “virtual” trees for a donation. The entire farm will have to be bulldozed. It takes 15 years to grow a Christmas tree. Here’s their website: https://www.averychristmastrees.com/.

United Cajun Navy

I’m not sure I’ve written about the United Cajun Navy in any of my Hurricane Helene updates, and for that I apologize. They have been in western North Carolina helping people since the day after the storm hit. Literally, the next day! The Facebook posts stated that they plan to work in western North Carolina for “years” to help the area recover from Hurricane Helene.

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Since my last blog post

Have you subscribed to my e-newsletter, which at least for the time being has been converted into a short weekly e-mail? If not, finish reading this blog post and then visit my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com , where you can click on the “Subscribe” button. As a bonus, in addition to being on my e-mail list, you can download a free copy of my historical short story, “Slip Sliding Away.”

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Until my next blog post

I hope you have one or more good books to read this week.

Take time for friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine; western NC; and Valencia, Spain.

Janet