I have had a lot of questions come my way since I found out that I am hearing impaired, so I am going to do my best to answer as many of them as I can. I might not remember all of them, and they have come from a lot of directions, so bare with me as I work to recall all of the questions that have come my way.

1. What made you go and get a hearing test?

You know, it was the usual husband and wife conversation. For the last 31 years, before marriage, and after we were married, life with my husband has been amazing.

Though, truth be told, there were moments, (a lot of them), that I thought he was mumbling to me.

We now know John's tone is one of the hardest for me to hear. So I missed a lot of what he was saying to me.

Our communication was great, if he was looking at me.

When he is not, it is almost non existent.

I'm not going to lie, I am a little bit proud of all we have done in our lives together with such limited communication. What once felt like our biggest hurdle, we now know was our greatest accomplishment.

2. How is it possible that you never knew you were hearing impaired?

My audiologist said it best, "You never knew anything different. This is all you know."

I was a bit numb when she said this to me.

Not knowing at that time what the future would hold.

Not wanting to believe I was hearing differently than the rest of the world.

I was scared.

I would love to tell you all that I was not at all afraid of learning I am hearing impaired.

I would be lying.

There was so much to understand, and I was so confused.

This is the only world I have ever known.

I could hear you. Or so I thought.

Once I heard for the first time in my life, I knew differently.

It was a lot to process.

So in short, I did not know, because I have never known anything different in my whole life.

I was born this way.

I had nothing to compare it to. It is that simple.

3. What do your children's voices sound like? How much different is it to hear ME's voice?

Hearing my children's real voices has been one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

It is not just their voices, it is the intentions of their voices.

Their happy sounds.

Their sad sounds.

Their fear voices.

It changes everything.

In my old world, every voice sounded disappointed.

And when I say every voice, I mean every single voice.

I did not hear the joy that high pitch sounds bring.

I am moderately hearing impaired on a few low tones, and severely as the pitches go high.

So for me, I missed out on the sing song tones that a voice has when they express joy, sadness, happiness, and fear.

I heard anger.

But now anger even seems less angry.

So hearing all of the tones from my kids has been absolutely amazing!

Priceless.

I do not have the words that express how I feel to hear all of the tones my children are sharing with me. I will be forever grateful to hear their real voices. Their real tones. Their real intentions. Nothing in life will ever compare to this.

ME's voice is no different than my other children. I hear her emotions better too. She is much much much more articulate than I knew.

We will be a much better team now, because I can now hear my voice too, for the first time in my life, and I can help her in ways I was not able to before knowing I am hearing impaired.

For now, I am going to stop with these three questions. I am going to go relax with my kids, and thank the heavens above that I can now hear as best I possibly can due to modern technology. I will answer more another day.

I am so grateful for each and every one of you who have reached out and supported me as I learn how to hear all that the world has to share with me.

My life will never be the same again.

I am so grateful every second of every day for this new gift.

#icanhearyounow