“Would you please speak up?” I asked town trustees last month during their Town Hall meeting.

“I can’t hear what you’re saying!” I finally said in my loud reporter voice.

A board member, or two, may have smirked, and someone may, or may not, have suggested that I had a hearing issue.

I’d never had a problem hearing at those meetings before, and decided it was because the audience seating setup was farther away from the board table than usual.

Then just the other day I couldn’t hear well during a cell phone conversation so I checked, and the volume was up as high as it would go. That was after I’d switched from my right ear to my left ear so I could write down a number I realized I couldn’t hear very well.

Yikes! That’s when I decided I was going deaf in my left ear, and needed hearing aids.

For a few years I thought Bill just had Husband Ears until I realized he also couldn’t hear what others were saying.

Then the only way he’d agree to get tested is if I’d get tested, too.

I passed. He didn’t, and we had a heck of a time keeping up with his “new ears,” and batteries before he passed away.

Last week allergies had me down for the count so I decided to go to the doctor, and also get my hearing checked.

That’s when I found out my left ear was “totally blocked,” and I was soon introduced to “ear flushes.”

It’s a strange feeling to have water (or whatever it is) pumped into, and out of, your ear. It’s even stranger to know ear wax gunk caused that problem.

What’s really strange is that my girl cat named Tuxedo had a trip to the vet last month for an ear infection before I discovered my hearing issue.

She kept lowering her right ear to half-mast as a sign of the problem. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known anything was wrong. She was still waking me every morning wanting her breakfast treats, then snuggling up next to my chin on the couch so I could pet her. Then as soon as I’d fall asleep she’d go about her business of being a cat.

She hasn’t figured it out yet that I sometimes pretend to snore so she’ll go to her chair for a nap, and I can get a view of the TV screen instead of her tail. Hey, don’t shame me over that because her chair used to be my computer work chair. Besides, now I can hear what you’re saying!