Nostalgia

Random fact of the day: I think it might be time to retire the random facts of the day. I know that blogs by nature can be narcissistic and I'm pondering ways to make this one at least a little bit less so. And anyway, my random facts of the day are usually just regurgitated Facebook statuses, so maybe I should keep my narcissism in one place. ;)

Hearing aids: You know what's ironic? I actually don't always know how to communicate with other hard of hearing people. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? You'd think I'd know best how to do that, since I spend so much time thinking of all the ways everyone else needs to learn how to communicate with me! I think it's because I don't really know that many hard of hearing people. I'm just now starting to meet more. I've spent my life around hearing people, so I've gotten used to communicating like they do - talking to them when their back is turned, yelling to catch someone's attention, etc. I have to readjust my mindset when I'm with someone who has the same communication needs I do (like not talking to their backs, tapping them on the shoulder to catch their attention, etc). Crazy, yeah, but it helps me see things from the hearing person's perspective and how they might feel trying to communicate with me.

In other news: I'm having one of those weeks where I wish I still lived on the MO side. I have been out there almost every night this week. I like that my world is bigger, that I'm not limited to Johnson County or Merriam or Mission or Overland Park. I'm glad that my world is comprised of all of those plus downtown and Midtown (why do we capitalize Midtown but not downtown?) and Raytown and Lee's Summit and Independence and Waldo and Brookside (why do we refer to Waldo and Brookside like they are cities rather than neighborhoods?) and Ward Parkway (why do we refer to this like a city and not just a street?). I'm glad for all of this. I'm thankful to feel at home no matter what the city limits are. My heart is all over the city, with different memories and people and moments and experiences tying me there.

On one of my MO nights, I was driving to my grandma's house and it was almost literally a trip down memory lane. Road construction forced me to find another path than the one I originally intended and I'm so glad for the wandering. As I drove, I remembered things like: I broke my wrist on that playground. Remember when we did set construction for Taming of the Shrew in that vacant storefront? I learned to drive in that parking lot and now it's a Wal-Mart. Church used to be over there. I used to babysit at that house. Grandpa used to take us to that park.

We didn't have a house on that side of the city - we lived 25 minutes away. I didn't learn to ride a bike on those streets. I didn't sled down their hills or catch their lightning bugs... but I grew up over there just the same.