For a number of years, my wife and I have spent the winter months in Florida staying in a RV park that includes an 18 hole golf course.(The golf course has absolutely nothing to do with this post, just threw it in.)  On good weather days – yes Florida has lots of not so good days during the winter; I am usually outside and many times just sitting and reading or I may just be pondering.

I have what has been termed as severe hearing loss and have been wearing hearing aids for about 15 years.  Now those of you in the same boat probably have the same problem as I do and will know what I’m talking about.  I hear sounds at certain frequencies and I can hear people talking.  But with the latter, I often have difficulty distinguishing the actual words, unless I can read their lips and then it doesn’t always go well.

One of the activities engaged in by many staying at the RV park  is walking, which often includes visiting with other folks along the way.  If my wife is sitting outside, ladies walking by will frequently stop and the ladies then talk (a favorite female activity it seems).  With my hearing problem, I usually don’t know what they are saying and to be honest I have no interest.  So I just continue doing whatever it is I was doing such as reading or pondering.  The latter being one of my favorite activities.

One day my wife told me I was being rude when folks stopped by and I should show interest  in what they had to say.  I tried to explain that I couldn’t understand them and so how could I be interested.  Well, she said I should try.

A  day or so later a lady stopped in and the two began a conversation about something or other.  I could only catch a word here and there, but I put my book down and faced the talkers and started looking for hints as to whether the particular subject was a happy/funny one or something not so happy.  Whether they were smiling or looking serious was one tipoff,  so I would try to follow suit.  I would smile and nod my head if I perceived the exchanges were happy ones.  On the other hand, if it looked serious I would furl my brow, grimace and shake my head to indicate I realized the seriousness of whatever they were saying.

I spent the next 15 – 20 minutes alternating between smiling and grimacing and between nodding and shaking.  At that point, their conversation ended and the lady prepared to continue her walk, but as she was leaving she turned and asked my wife, “Honey, is your husband senile?”

Needless to say, when my wife related what the lady had said, that put a stop to my smiling, grimacing, nodding, and shaking.  However, in days after that, every time I would see the lady I would smile real big and give  her a goofy wave of some sort.  So I’m confident she thought I  truly was a senile old goat then and even to this day.

Maybe she was right.  I mean do senile people actually realize they are senile?