The Comfort of Sounds
An almost constant wall of noise surrounds our world. At least most of it.
Unless your household includes a person with hearing issues, sounds of varying levels are so prevalent in our lives that we scarcely notice.?
Before technology became the essence and bane of our existence, there were the occasional raised voices trying to communicate with an older adult. Or the boisterous voices of folks in bars after imbibing copious amounts of alcohol following a hard day toiling in the fields, wrangling cattle, or working in an office. ?
Sometimes family members make noise as well. Those sounds can be because everyone enjoys the unique camaraderie only blood kin share. This writer recalls a long-ago Christmas with her parents and siblings when two of the brothers broke out in song, to the delight of everyone present. Little did they know they faced years of pain and rancor before the love of the family circle embraced them once more.
When the children were small, there were times when Hubby’s overwhelmed mother exclaimed, “Will you shittin’ young’uns settled down” just as the preacher passed her open window.
Back then, folks opened their windows during the summer because air conditioning was a mere glint in the eye of Willis Haviland Carrier.
According to Carrier.com, “Genious can strike anywhere. For Willis Carrier, it was a foggy Pittsburgh train platform in 1902. Carrier stared through the mist and realized that he could dry air by passing it through water to create fog. Doing so would make it possible to manufacture air with specific amounts of moisture in it. Within a year, he completed his invention to control humidity — the fundamental building block for modern air conditioning.”
Of course, air conditioning in the past or present can be loud. At the Funny Farm, the installers of our new system left it on the loud setting. But we soon became accustomed to the telltale clicks before the relief of cold air blew through the house. Since the noise did not bother Hubby, his wife adapted. However, when their daughter visits, she complains about the noisy system.?
Clearly, their daughter does not seem to realize that the noise keeps the silence at bay, especially during the night. Where the sound of Hubby’s not so, gentle snores filled the bedroom, now only the restless rustling of sheets or the occasional warning bray of the donkeys breaks the stillness of the night.
Although silence per se does not bother her, the lady of the manor keeps her radio on while awake. Why? Because she enjoys music and often dances around the house to it. ?
Consider yourselves fortunate to never witness a golden oldie bopping to tunes of the 60s and 80s. And those blessings are even more significant because you do not hear her enthusiastic singing as well.
Hubby and his lady did not realize how quiet it was out here until we returned from a trip to Costa Rica.
While there, the sounds of the jungle surrounded us day and night. However, the first night home, the sound of silence was noticeable and nearly deafening. Not even Hubby’s occasional snore offered enough nocturnal noise to allow his wife to fall asleep quickly.
Aside from the radio, the sounds of birds and the lowing of cattle adds to the country life ambiance. But there are moments this lady misses the resounding noise filling the house when Hubby had the television volume up loud enough to chip plaster off the walls.
Your humble writer recalls sitting next to the love of her life reading a book wearing earplugs while he watched a ballgame or yet another western.
To some, complete silence can be disconcerting and even frightening. A young woman of our acquaintance pointed out this fact while relating the final days of her dying mother.
Although she was a child during her mother’s illness, the pain was still fresh. The young lady choked back tears as she spoke about the countless nights spent listening to the sounds of her mother’s life-sustaining machines. As long as she heard the machine sounds, she knew her maternal parent was still alive.
?
?
?