Thanks where my thanks is due today.

There are so many people I am thankful for in my life, and I’ve said so many times throughout my blog. My family and my husband’s have all been very supportive to me through so many years of deafness before my Cochlear implant, but today there’s also another I’m so very grateful for.

I’ve seen an enormous amount of posts across the web from so many who are thankful about various people and things (yay food!), and I couldn’t go without posting my own warm and fuzzy thoughts.

I’m thankful today, Thanksgiving day, for this man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thank God today for Professor Graeme Clark.

I’m thankful that Professor Clark had the tenacity to succeed and successfully implanted the very first multi-channel bionic ear and cochlear implant. If it hadn’t been for his perseverance, despite so much stacked against him, I wouldn’t be hearing during my very first winter Thanksgiving after being deaf for so many years.

Many, many thank you’s to Professor Clark and to Cochlear Americas for what they began and what they continue to do.

“In spite of the problems and criticisms, I just had to go on. A cochlear implant was their only hope of ever hearing.” – Professor Graeme Clark

SmashBurgers with a side of music

The other day my husband and I were about to walk into Home Depot to purchase some paint, and as my husband pulled into the parking lot, which is next to a fast food joint, and my three year old son said, “Daddy, I’m hungry. You want to buy me something to eat at Wendy’s.”

Now I’ve been pretty strict lately on us, cooking at home nearly every night of the week, and only eating out roughly once a week. But when my three year old recognized that Wendy’s sign, I was a little appalled and wondering why I hadn’t cracked down on us earlier. Say a year ago.
Anyway, I don’t like the kiddos to go hungry, and we knew that mixing ten cans of paint might take a while in Home Depot, so we went searching for somewhere to eat. Just not Wendy’s.

We found this place. SmashBurger.

I’ve never been before and I don’t think it’s been open for more than a year in my suburb in Texas. My husband said he’d heard of them, so I figured, sure why not? If we’re going to clog our arteries, at least we know the place tastes great.

There’s really nothing to say here other than yumm.
I chose the smallest burger they had, which was unfortunately still a 1/3 lb burger. If there’s ever a next time, I’d try ordering a kids meal. We ordered one for our kiddos and split it between them, but they still didn’t eat it all.
Here’s the burger and fries.

Those fries were dubbed SmashFries and probably the best I’ve had in a long time. I say that probably because I don’t eat fries too often anymore, but still, they were great. Better than the burger even. Think french fries fried in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and a bunch of rosemary. I’ve already decided that I’m going to have to create them at home, only bake them in the oven instead of deep frying them. My husband thinks fries are supposed to be seasoned only with salt and dipped in yellow goo, but he’s just weird like that. When we got married he also didn’t like any kind of cheesecake except the Jello no-bake “cheesecake”. He’s been enlightened since then.

One credit I do give SmashBurger is the great atmosphere. You can sit inside of course, but they have a nice little patio outside to sit and enjoy your artery-clogging burger and fries in the sunshine.

Apparently they also play background music outside. We weren’t sitting there for more than a few minutes before my husband started asking me who sang “Collide”. Oh do I love that song. And darnit that song has been stuck in my head for days now.

One thing you should know about me. I love love LOVED music. Well actually I still do, I just can’t hear it. My mother forced me (and nearly pulled her hair out while doing it) to play the piano from the time I was twelve until I entered college, approximately six years of lessons if you don’t include a few short breaks. I hated pretty much every moment of it until I was actually good enough to play some contemporary pop songs as a teenager. But even at that point, I barely enjoyed it despite the fact that I considered playing through college. And now? I’d give a lot to hear one of Mozart’s Sonatas again.

When my husband asked me about “Collide” while we sat at SmashBurger, I couldn’t immediately remember that it was sung by Howie Day, but believe me when I say that I remembered every single word to the song. I can even remember sitting on our living room sofa late one night, about to head to bed, when Jay Leno introduced Howie Day as the music guest. On the album, the song actually has strings and other backup instruments, but the way that Howie Day sang it that night was simply with his just his acoustic guitar. And it was so simple, so clean, and so uniquely beautiful, that I looked the song up the next day and I’ve been addicted to it ever since. I don’t really know any of his other songs, and I’ve never followed him as an artist, but the song just sticks out in my mind so much because it’s one of the last few that I heard before losing enough of my hearing that I couldn’t really understand music melody.

I have such a long list of to-do items once I receive my Cochlear Implant this year. Toward the top of my list? Buying an iPod and listing to Collide over and over again as I did so many years ago. And, Mom? Watch out because I just might try piano lessons again.

Sonic Drive-In and the misadventures of a deaf girl

Sonic is the one fast food joint that I avoid like the plague. Every few months my family might eat from Sonic, and even after so many years of being hearing impaired, and nearly two years of being deaf, I still have to remind my husband that I do NOT and I mean I do NOT order from Sonic. If we eat from Sonic, it is his sole responsibility to bring home the food. End of discussion.

If you’re not deaf or hearing impaired, you might ask why I don’t like ordering from Sonic. Heck, my husband still asks me that. He wonders why I can’t just tell them to send someone out to take my order. Well today I tried that.

I’m in Woodlands, TX, today for a conference that my husband’s work is hosting and because he is one of the directors at his work, both he and his spouse (that would be me) were paid for. Now I like to at least make myself useful (on occasion), so I offered to go grab lunch for my husband and one of the other directors who were both working on set-up for the conference. It just so happens that the freeway near to where we are contains virtually no fast-food places other than….. that’s right, Sonic.

I drive into Sonic, take a brief look at the menu, but I already know what the guys want. Two number one meals with fries and drinks. No problemo (I like to pretend I know a little Spanish since I live in Texas). I push that big red button near the speaker and pray very hard that I can do this. And at this moment I realize that there is a LOT of road traffic. I turned off my car to make it quieter, but all I hear is a lot of white noise from the freeway that’s a couple hundred yards away. There was also a semi trailer going down the street next to me too. And turning. And taking his little time while I’m sitting here wondering, did someone just say something from the speaker? It’s been about a minute. What if they already said something and I missed it?

I really thought I might have heard the speaker crackle with a voice saying “blah, blah, blah” (or something like that) so I say, “I’m sorry but I’m deaf. Can you send someone out to take my order?” This is what my husband always tells me to do at Sonic, so I’m finally taking his advice.

Now I’m waiting. And waiting. No one is coming out. So I guess no one was really saying anything? Or maybe they said something AFTER I did and I didn’t hear them, and they didn’t hear what I said? Arg! This is too tough!

At this point, I’m about to cry. I can feel the burn in my eyes as the tear ducts attempt to accumulate moisture and I try really really hard to hold back any tear that might possibly sort of be forming. I can sit at a fast food place and order my food. I am fully capable of doing it on my own despite my teeny tiny disability. It’s not that hard. I’m not going to cry when those people are looking at me. I can do this. I can be deaf and not be miserable. Right?

Crackle. Crackle. “Bla-blah-bu-bu-ba-blah-blah?”

I hear it loud and clear! Ok, well not loud and clear because I couldn’t understand what the guy said, but I distinctly hear the sound of SOMEONE saying something out of that darn speaker! Whew!

Yeah so that’s why I don’t go to Sonic. Too much emotion that I know this girl can do without.